PRESS RELEASE : Minister hails ‘world-class’ exporters as new data shows UK businesses reach record highs [September 2023]
The press release issued by the Department for Business and Trade on 29 September 2023.
Revised figures from the Office for National Statistics indicates that the UK’s total exports in 2022 were worth £834 billion, up from £815 billion.
Exports Minister Malcolm Offord has praised the UK’s ‘world-class’ exporters as new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) released today (29 September) shows UK exports performed even better than previously thought.
The figures reveal that the UK’s total exports in 2022 were worth a huge £834 billion, putting the UK well on the way to hitting its target of £1 trillion of exports a year by the end of the decade.
2022 was a record year for the UK’s services exports in particular as they topped £400 billion for the first time, and new ONS data estimates they were worth £411 billion in total last year – £10 billion higher than the original estimation of £401 billion.
The ONS have said this is due to more data becoming available and more accurate methodologies being used to calculate export values – particularly for education services exports.
Minister for Exports Lord Offord said:
This is fantastic news and shows our world-class exporting businesses are doing even better than first thought and selling more of the goods and services to the world.
The UK is a services superpower, hitting over £400 billion in exports for the first time last year, but we want to see even more businesses exporting, so we can hit our ambitious target of £1 trillion of exports a year by 2030.
We’re backing British business by knocking down trade barriers, signing new trade deals, giving expert advice via our Export Support Service and funding through UK Export Finance – our award-winning export credit agency.
Marco Forgione, Director General of the Institute of Export & International Trade said:
It’s positive to see improvements across a range of exports within both trade in goods and services.
The Institute of Export & International Trade’s recent report ‘Global horizons: realising the services exports potential of UK nations and regions’ demonstrates why we are a services powerhouse. It’s vital that we maintain our global advantage as an exporter of services and one of the key recommendations of our report was creating regional sector specialisations – which, if implemented, will improve regional outputs.
We have a clear pathway to continue this success and by focusing on our nations and regions we can work together with businesses to reap the benefits of entering new markets.
The ONS has today published an article setting out a detailed assessment of its changes to the export stats, available online on its website.
