EU factoid.
How important is the EU to UK trade
The UK has traditionally had strong trade links with the EU. Despite changes in the composition of the global economy, the EU in 2014 accounted for
44.6% of UK exports of goods and services, and
53.2% of UK imports of goods and services. However, strong economic growth in many developing economies outside the EU has resulted in non-EU economies growing in importance to UK trade, with the proportion accounted for by the EU falling consistently since 1999, despite the value of EU trade increasing.
Exports from the UK to EU and non-EU countries have grown on average by 3.6% and 6.5% respectively in each year between 1999 and 2014. However, the stronger export growth to non-EU countries has resulted in the proportion of UK exports destined for the EU falling from
54.8% in 1999 to
44.6% in 2014. Growth in the value of UK imports of goods and services from EU and non-EU countries is more comparable, growing on average by 4.7% and 5.5% respectively in each year since 1999.
Faster growth in the value of UK imports compared to exports with the EU has resulted in the UK’s overall trade balance with the EU deteriorating (value of imports exceeding exports), with the trade deficit widening notably, reaching £
61.6 billion in 2014 compared with £11.2 billion in 1999.
UK trade with the EU is dominated by goods rather than services; in 2014, trade in goods represented close to two-thirds of all UK exports to the EU, and over three-quarters of total UK imports from the EU. Between 1999 and 2014, goods imported by the UK from the EU have risen by 4.9% per year on average, compared to exports which have risen by 2.5% per year, causing the UK’s trade in goods deficit with the EU to rise to
£77.0 billion.
Although the UK has historically recorded a trade in goods deficit with the EU, its trade in services balance with the EU is much more favourable, running a surplus in each year since 2005, which reached £
15.4 billion in 2014.
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/inter...union-to-uk-trade-and-investment-/sty-eu.html