The UK economy has taken some knocks recently. The triple whammy of Brexit, the COVID-19 pandemic and a cost of living crisis has left economists shaking their heads sadly. Despite this, the UK remains a major player on the world stage.

In 2021, the UK was the seventh biggest exporter of goods and services – and as we'll see, business leaders are hopeful that things will be on the up this year.

In this article, we take a look at the UK's biggest exports – as well as some smaller and more unusual ones.

Facts and figures

First of all, some stats.

In the 12 months to the end of November 2022, the UK exported £802.7 billion worth of goods and services and imported £883.6 billion.

In the same period, the top 10 UK goods exports were:

• Crude oil (£28 billion)
• Mechanical power generators (£27.7 billion)
• Unspecified goods (£27.6 billion)
• Medicinal and pharmaceutical products (£25.1 billion)
• Cars (£24 billion)
• Refined oil (£19.4 billion)
• Non-ferrous metals – this includes aluminium, copper and nickel (£19 billion)
• Scientific instruments (£10.8 billion)
• Aircraft (£10.7 billion)
• Organic chemicals (£10.3 billion)

The lion's share of British car exports goes to the EU, with the top exporters being Nissan (based in Sunderland) and Jaguar Land Rover (the West Midlands).

If you're scratching your head about those mysterious "unspecific goods", don't worry – so are we. The Office for National Statistics defines them as "low-value consignments of imports and exports that are not analysed by commodity or country". Make of that what you will.

As well as goods, we export services. In the four quarters to the end of September 2022, the UK exported £26.6 billion in transport services, £33.1 billion in telecoms and computers, £50.8 billion in travel services and £71.2 billion in financial services.

But our biggest service export by far was, um… "other business services" – an enigma to match that of unspecified goods.

Who are our biggest trading partners?

At present, we have data about our export markets that take us up to the end of June 2022. The top five are – in descending order – the USA, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland and France.

Yes, it seems the so-called "special relationship" is going strong. In the four quarters to the end of Q3 2022, we shipped £5.4 billion worth of medicinal and pharmaceutical products to the USA. We also sold a huge number of cars, power generators, oil and scientific instruments.

In return, the USA sent a lot of oil, gas, power generators and medicinal and pharmaceutical products our way. Oh, and £2.3 billion worth of "unspecified goods".

The UK is currently negotiating a number of trade deals across the globe – so it will be interesting to see what changes this will make to our current export rankings.

Some unusual success stories

British politician Liam Fox once boasted that "what Napoleon called a nation of shopkeepers has sold tea to China, wine to France and boomerangs to Australia."

And he was right – in 2015 HM Revenue and Customs revealed that the UK sold £46 million bottles' worth of wine to France and £642,400 worth of tea to China.

UK company Wicked Vision makes boomerangs and ships them to Australia. We can only hope their antipodean customers don't send them back.

What can we expect in 2023?

In 2022, the financial forecast for the UK was largely negative. A weakened pound, spiralling inflation and energy bills, stagnant wages… let's face it – things aren't looking great.

However, this isn't necessarily a reason for firms to stop exporting to the UK, not least because there are signs of hope for the coming year.

A recent report by the business lobby group the Institute of Directors has revealed that 42% of UK firms expect to see an increase in exports in 2023.

The reason for this optimism seems to be related to new free trade agreements signed with Australia (December 2021) and New Zealand (February 2022). These have been signed but are not "in force" – they first need to be ratified by Parliament.

On top of this, the UK government is currently negotiating free trade agreements with India, Canada, Mexico, Israel and the Gulf Cooperation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE).

It's too soon to say how any of these agreements will affect UK imports and exports – but we'll likely see the increase in trade that business owners are hoping for.

Want to know more about the trade agreements currently under negotiation? Then take a look at our article on the subject.

How can Stowsafe Fulfilment help?

Stowsafe Fulfilment is a UK-based order fulfilment company. Our centre of operations is a 24,500 square feet warehouse in the southwest of England.

Our mission is to take routine tasks like picking, packing and dispatching out of your hands – freeing up time and resources so you can turn your attention to growing your business.

Wherever in the world you are, we offer storage space and fulfilment services with reliable transport links to the UK's major cities. If you're looking to export to the UK, we can help with last-mile delivery, leveraging our local expertise to find you the most cost-effective couriers.

You'll reap the benefits of our state-of-the-art warehouse management system, so you can always be on top of your inventory and sales. What's more, you'll have access to rich seams of data that will help you make critical decisions about your stock.

And we know that exporting goods involves taking a risk – so we offer a scalable service that can respond to your needs as they evolve. If a product is shifting units – great. We can furnish you with more shelf space. Or if you decide to scale back, we can accommodate that too.

Interested? Then please don't hesitate to take a look at our fulfilment services or get in touch for a free consultation.