Customs declaration volumes for international trade in goods in 2022
Published 16 May 2023
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Introduction
This article reports on the number of customs declarations submitted to HMRC in the calendar year 2022, for goods moved between Great Britain (GB) and European Union (EU), and the United Kingdom (UK) and Non-EU countries. Customs declarations have been required for Great Britain’s trade in goods with the European Union (EU), since 1st January 2021.
This publication provides details on the number of these customs declarations by calendar month, by declarant representation, by location of entry/exit and by type of declaration.
Users of this publication can find detailed information on customs declaration volumes for 2022 in the associated data set.
Summary statistics
Total number of customs declarations for international trade 2022
95.1 million This is an increase of 16.8 million (21%) declarations, compared to the 2021 total of 78.3m.
Changes in the declaration volumes can occur due to changes in declarant submission behaviour as well as changes in economic activity. Declarants may increase or decrease the number of customs declarations they submit for equivalent volumes of goods for a variety of reasons, such as a change in the way they may use certain customs facilitations, and they may do so at any point within a given period. Declaration volumes are not a reliable measure of trade volume, better indicators of UK trade performance are published on a monthly basis in the Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics (OTS) See ‘Key data caveats and limitations’ for more.
Import declarations as a proportion of the total number of customs declarations 2022
77.3% This represents 73.5m declarations, an increase of 15.5m (27%), compared to the 2021 total of 58.0m.
The number of customs declarations for trade in goods between Great Britain and the European Union in 2022
38.6 million This is an increase of 4.3m (13%) declarations, compared to the 2021 total of 34.3m.
The number of customs declarations for trade in goods between the UK and the Non-EU countries in 2022
55.4 million This is an increase of 12.5m (29%) declarations, compared to the 2021 total of 42.9m.
The proportion of customs declarations for international trade in 2022 which were declared by a third party
78.3% This represents an increase of 3.6 percentage points compared to 2021.
Source: Customs declarations for international trade in goods in 2022 from HM Revenue and Customs
Notes:
- Figures are rounded and may not sum to the totals provided
- Customs declarations for trade movements between Northern Ireland and Great Britain have been excluded, in addition to UK trade movements with the Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey and the UK continental shelf.
- Trade partners for customs declarations are categorised as GB-EU, UK-Non-EU or Other. Summary statistics are for all trade partner categories, unless a particular trade partner is specified.
Declaration counts by month and trade partner
Table 1: Annual import declaration counts by trade partner, 2021 to 2022
| Trade partner | 2021 count | 2022 count |
|---|---|---|
| GB-EU | 23,377,000 | 25,954,000 |
| UK-non-EU | 33,839,000 | 46,667,000 |
| Other | 782,000 | 850,000 |
| Total | 57,997,000 | 73,471,000 |
Source: Customs declarations for international trade in goods in 2022 from HM Revenue and Customs
Table 1 shows the change in import declaration counts from 2021 to 2022:
- In 2022, there were 73.5m import customs declarations, an increase of 15.5m (27%), compared to the 2021 total of 58.0m.
- The number of import declarations for GB-EU trade was 26.0m, an increase of 2.6m (11%) compared to 2021.
- For UK-Non-EU imports, 46.7m declarations were submitted in 2022, an increase of 12.8m (38%) compared to 2021
Notes:
- Figures are rounded and may not sum to the totals provided
- Customs declarations for trade movements between Northern Ireland and Great Britain have been excluded, in addition to UK trade movements with the Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey and the UK continental shelf.
- Trade partners for customs declarations are categorised as GB-EU, UK-Non-EU or Other. Summary statistics are for all trade partner categories, unless a particular trade partner is specified.
Table 2: Annual export declaration counts by trade partner, 2021 to 2022
| Trade partner | 2021 count | 2022 count |
|---|---|---|
| GB-EU | 10,937,000 | 12,617,000 |
| UK-non-EU | 9,065,000 | 8,726,000 |
| Other | 296,000 | 291,000 |
| Total | 20,299,000 | 21,633,000 |
Source: Customs declarations for international trade in goods in 2022 from HM Revenue and Customs
Table 2 shows the change in export declaration counts from 2021 to 2022:
- In 2022, there were 21.6m export customs declarations, an increase of 1.3m (7%) compared to the 2021 total of 20.3m
- The number of export declarations for GB-EU trade was 12.6m, an increase of 1.7m (15%) compared to 2021.
- For UK-Non-EU exports, 8.7m declarations were submitted in 2022, a decrease of 0.3m (4%) compared to 2021.
Notes:
- Figures are rounded and may not sum to the totals provided
- Customs declarations for trade movements between Northern Ireland and Great Britain have been excluded, in addition to UK trade movements with the Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey and the UK continental shelf.
- Trade partners for customs declarations are categorised as GB-EU, UK-Non-EU or Other. Summary statistics are for all trade partner categories, unless a particular trade partner is specified.
Declaration counts by declarant representation and trade partner
Table 3. Import declarations by declarant representation type and trade partner, 2022
| Trade partner | Self-representation | Direct representation | Indirect representation |
|---|---|---|---|
| GB-EU | 4,366,000 | 10,173,000 | 11,415,000 |
| UK-Non-EU | 13,298,000 | 26,225,000 | 7,144,000 |
| Other | 214,000 | 524,000 | 112,000 |
| Total | 17,879,000 | 36,922,000 | 18,671,000 |
Source: Customs declarations for international trade in goods in 2022 from HM Revenue and Customs
Table 3 shows how the declaration representation type for imports varies by trade partner:
- 56% of UK-Non-EU import declaration were submitted by direct representation compared to 39% for GB-EU imports. This is an increase of 16 percentage points (from 40%) for UK-Non-EU imports and 5 percentage points (from 34%) for GB-EU imports, compared to 2021.
- 17% of GB-EU import declarations were submitted by self-representation compared to 28% of UK-Non-EU imports declarations. This is an increase of 2 percentage points (from 15%) for GB-EU import and a decrease of 12 percentage points (from 40%) for UK-Non-EU imports.
Notes:
- Figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand throughout. The sum of breakdowns may therefore not sum to totals given.
Table 4. Export declarations by declarant representation type and trade partner, 2022
| Trade partner | Self-representation | Direct representation | Indirect representation | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GB-EU | 607,000 | 4,969,000 | 6,441,000 | 599,000 |
| UK-Non-EU | 1,297,000 | 2,131,000 | 5,296,000 | 2,000 |
| Other | 231,000 | 54,000 | 6,000 | less than 1,000 |
| Total | 2,135,000 | 7,154,000 | 11,743,000 | 602,000 |
Source: Customs declarations for international trade in goods in 2022 from HM Revenue and Customs
Table 4 shows that the preference of declarant representation type does not vary as much between GB-EU and UK-Non-EU exports:
- The majority of export declarations are submitted by indirect representation. For UK-Non-EU exports this represents 61% of declarations, no change from 2021. For GB-EU exports this represents 51% of declarations, a decrease of 5 percentage points (from 56%) compared to 2021.
- Only 5% of GB-EU export declarations were submitted by self-representation, a decrease of 2 percentage points (from 7%) compared to 2021. For UK-Non-EU exports 15% of declarations were submitted by self-representation, no change compare to 2021.
Notes:
-
Figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand throughout. The sum of breakdowns may therefore not sum to totals given.
-
The ‘Other’ declarant representation category captures declarations which are not defined as self, direct or indirect representation. All declarations in this ‘Other’ category are exit summary declarations. This declaration type is only available for exports.
Declarations counts by type and trade partner
The proportion of declarations by type varied between imports and exports:
- The majority of import declarations submitted were supplementary declarations. In 2022, supplementary declarations accounted for, 89% of UK-Non-EU and 64% of GB-EU import declarations.
- For exports, the majority of declarations were standard declarations. In 2022, standard declarations accounted for 81% of GB-EU and 78% of UK-Non-EU export declarations.