Official Statistics

DBT national survey of registered businesses’ exporting behaviours, attitudes and needs 2025: executive summary

Published 19 August 2026

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About the National Survey of Registered Businesses (NSRB)

In July 2026, the government created a new department called the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST).

The new department encompasses the previous Department for Business and Trade (DBT) with parts of the former Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and the Investment Security Unit. BIST brings together Britain’s strengths in science, technology and innovation with the government’s economic and industrial priorities.

The new department has greater power to:

• drive investment
• support innovation
• remove barriers holding back growth

The NSRB was commissioned by the then-DBT, now part of BIST. It monitors exporting behaviours, plans, capabilities, and attitudes of businesses across the UK. It is also used as a tool for evaluating the performance of DBT communication campaigns.

In total, 10 annual waves of the NSRB have been completed, commencing in 2015. This report is focused on the tenth and most recent wave of data, collected across 2025.

In 2025, a total of 2,894 responses were collected from businesses throughout the year, split into 4 quarters, across 3 collection periods. Data for:

• quarter 1 was collected between 6 March and 28 April 2025
• quarter 2 was collected between 2 June and 18 July 2025
• quarters 3 and quarter 4 was collected across an extended collection period between 3 September and 19 November 2025

This report focuses on findings from across the year, comparisons with previous years, and sub-group differences where appropriate. Throughout the report, figures have been rounded to the nearest whole number and as such, breakdowns may not always sum to the expected total. Since fieldwork for NSRB wave 10 took place on behalf of DBT, before the change to BIST, references to DBT remain throughout where appropriate.

The primary focus of the NSRB is on businesses with an annual turnover of £500,000 or more. This is on the basis that these larger businesses can potentially generate high value exports at larger scale. Throughout most of this report, ‘UK businesses’ is referring only to those with a turnover of £500,000 or more.

This is not true of chapter 12, which reports on findings from the ‘total business population’. The ‘total business population’ refers to the whole respondent population, incorporating businesses with a turnover of less than £500,000.

Overall context and main findings: businesses with turnover of £500,000 or more

Throughout 2025, businesses continued to face challenges. While pre-existing concerns around the EU Exit, inflation and economic uncertainty, rising energy prices and COVID-19 were still prominent, these were stable or decreased compared to 2024.

In addition, while the proportion of exporting businesses has declined over time, the net balance of reported exporting volumes for goods improved since 2024, while the net balance for the export of services remained stable, indicating a stabilisation of the business environment. In contrast, businesses were less optimistic about their business growth, and the growth in the value of UK exports.

In July 2024 the UK held a general election, which led to a change in government. All data from wave 10 was collected under the new Labour government.

During 2025, a number of new policy frameworks were introduced, including the ‘Industrial Strategy’ and ‘Trade Strategy’, both launched in June 2025, and the ‘Small Business Strategy’ (July 2025). Together, these frameworks set out the government’s approach to supporting business growth, productivity and international trade.

Alongside these strategies, 2025 also saw continued policy development in areas affecting the business environment, including progression of the Employment Rights Bill, which set out proposed reforms to employment rights and workplace practices.

Internationally, businesses were operating against a backdrop of evolving global trade policy, including the introduction of new US tariff measures and uncertainty around the potential implications for UK exporters and international trade.

Fieldwork for wave 10 concluded in November 2025 and therefore reflects business attitudes before the escalation of conflict in the Middle East during 2026. The findings in this report do not capture the impact that subsequent geopolitical developments may have had on business sentiment, trade activity or supply chains.

Exporting behaviour

The proportion of businesses currently exporting has remained stable in 2025. However, since 2021 there has been a downward trend in the proportion of businesses who have ever exported (45% in 2021 to 35% in 2025), and for the first time is statistically significantly lower than levels seen between 2015 and 2020 (40% to 42%).

Among goods exporters, the difference between those reporting increased export volumes versus those reporting decreased export volumes improved from -13% in 2024 to -5% in 2025, continuing a trend of gradual improvement.

Among exporters of services, the equivalent figure remained stable at +2%, indicating broadly equal proportions reporting increases and decreases in export volumes. Nine in 10 (90%) businesses who had ever exported said they had exported to one of the ‘core markets’,^{[footnote 1]} in line with 2024 (90%) but a decrease from 94% in 2023. Most businesses (86%) said they had exported to the EU, consistent with 2024.

Business concerns

General concerns around COVID-19 decreased further in 2025 compared with 2024. Concerns about war or conflict, and industrial action were also reduced compared with 2024.

However, this reflects attitudes at the time of fieldwork and does not capture the impact of the escalation of conflict in the Middle East during 2026, which occurred after data collection had concluded. Concerns relating to the UK’s exit from the EU, economic and inflationary pressure, and rising energy prices continued to be prominent and were unchanged compared with 2024.

A code relating to the ‘rising cost of tariffs’ was introduced in quarter 2 of wave 10, following the introduction of new US tariff measures. Concerns about tariffs were reported by 29% of businesses.

Exporting barriers

Across all business capabilities for exporting such as adequate supply chains, financial resources, staff skills and staff capacity, findings were consistent with 2024. Thinking about respondents’ ability to export to core markets, barriers relating to customs procedures and compliance regulations (53%), and administrative costs and regulations abroad (28%) were seen as the greatest barriers.

Free trade agreements (FTAs)

Findings relating to FTAs were consistent with 2024. Among all businesses with turnover of £500,000 or more, 3 quarters (76%) had heard of FTAs, though only one in 5 (20%) reported any knowledge about them.

Among businesses who have or could export (‘sustain’, ‘reassure’ and ‘promote’ segments), 81% had heard of FTAs, with one in 5 (23%) knowing anything about them. Despite this, over 2 in 5 (45%) felt that FTAs would benefit their business (61% among current or previous exporters), and half (50%) felt FTAs would benefit their sector or industry (65% among current or previous exporters).

Businesses reported low confidence in how to trade through an FTA, and a lack of information or support to access the benefits of FTAs, indicating a need for further guidance.

Information sources and awareness

The proportions of businesses that reported high levels of knowledge on how to export (19%), where to go for information (24%) or help and support about exporting (22%) were stable in 2025. The proportion of businesses who had ever sought advice or support about exporting (40%) also remained stable.

GOV.UK pages remained the main source of government support on exporting and trade, both in awareness (54%) and use (36%), both unchanged since 2024, though remaining lower than 2023 (awareness: 68%, use 45%). Most services were still not familiar to or used by the majority of businesses.

Campaign recognition

Around one in 5 businesses (21%) were able to recall the DBT ‘Made in the UK, Sold to the World’ (MIUK) campaign, an increase from 11% in 2024. Just over one quarter of businesses who were able to view the MIUK campaign ads during the interview felt they were relevant to their business (29%).

The campaign was largely seen to be clear (75%) and trusted (69%) sources of information. Seven in 10 agreed that the ads made it clear where to go for exporting information (70%), an increase from 57% in 2024. Fewer recognised the UK Export Academy campaign (8%).

Findings by theme: businesses with turnover of £500,000 or more

General exporting behaviours

The NSRB allocates businesses into 4 separate segments as described (see also section 3.5 for segment definitions) to reflect their exporting behaviour.

In 2025, businesses were distributed across these segments as follows:

• almost 3 in 10 (29%) of businesses had exported goods and/or services in the past 12 months and fell into the ‘sustain’ segment
• additionally, 7% of businesses were either lapsed or intermittent exporters, meaning they had not exported in the last 12 months but had done so previously – these businesses made up the ‘reassure’ segment
• a third segment, accounting for 18% of businesses, were those that had never exported before but believed that they could – these businesses reported having a product or service that they self-identified as being suitable, or could be developed to be suitable, for export, and formed the ‘promote’ segment
• the final segment was made up of businesses that have never exported and did not see their goods or services as being suitable for export – this group is referred to as the ‘challenge’ segment and accounted for 47% of all businesses
• a remaining 1% of businesses fell outside of these segment definitions, as they were unsure of their exporting potential or history

Table 1: percentage of respondents in each exporting segment from 2015 to 2025

Segment	2015	2016	2017	2018	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
Sustain	33%	33%	35%	33%	34%	35%	34%	31%	32%	29%
Reassure	8%	9%	7%	7%	6%	10%	9%	8%	6%	7%
Promote	11%	12%	12%	13%	15%	15%	15%	18%	17%	18%
Challenge	43%	41%	39%	38%	44%	38%	42%	42%	44%	47%
Not specified	5%	5%	7%	8%	1%	1%	1%	1%	1%	1%
Total (base)	1,160	1,139	2,535	2,448	2,557	2,485	2,405	2,181	2,182	2,122

In 2025, 35% of respondents had exported before and 64% had never exported. This represents a continued downward trend since 2021 (45% in 2021 to 35% in 2025) and for the first time is statistically significantly lower than levels seen between 2015 and 2020 (40% to 42%).

The overall trend arises through incremental changes across the ‘sustain’ and ‘reassure’ segments. The proportion of businesses in the ‘promote’ segment has been trending up over the 8 waves of the NSRB though was stable in 2025, while the proportion of ‘challenge’ businesses has fluctuated across years but remained stable in the past 12 months^{[footnote 2]}.

Exporting behaviour in Northern Ireland remained high in comparison to the rest of the UK. However, a large proportion of Northern Irish businesses that exported did so only to the Republic of Ireland.

In 2025, 36% of Northern Irish businesses reported that they had exported in the previous 12 months, but only to the Republic of Ireland. A further 13% said they exported both to the Republic of Ireland and overseas in the previous 12 months. Finally, 1% said they exported to overseas destinations only. These figures were in line with previous years.

The proportion of exporting businesses reporting either an increase or a reduction in their exports of goods and services in 2025 remained consistent with 2024. Among exporters of goods, almost one in 4 (24%) stated that their exports of goods had increased in the past 12 months, while 3 in 10 (29%) stated that they had decreased. For service exporters, one in 4 (26%) stated that their exports had increased in the past year, whilst a further one in 4 (25%) stated that exports had decreased.

Three in 5 exporters (75%) said that they were ‘passive’ in their exporting behaviour, meaning that they responded to orders from other countries but did not actively target these customers. Conversely, almost one in 4 exporters (23%) said they did actively target customers abroad, both in line with 2024.

Almost one in 5 potential or lapsed exporters (18%) were planning to start or resume exporting at some point in the future, in line with previous years. This is equivalent to 4% of the whole ‘turnover of £500,000 or more’ business sample.

Barriers to exporting

Across all aspects of capabilities and capacity in relation to exporting that had been measured in previous years, findings were consistent with 2024. Businesses were most confident in having adequate supply chains (71%), the capabilities to assess demand for products or services (71%), to assess the cost of exporting (70%), to research and understand FTAs (70%), or had the financial resources (69%) or staff skills (69%) to export.

Perceptions of having the capability to research and understand FTAs (up from 63% in 2023 to 70% in 2025), sufficient staff skills (up from 61% in 2023 to 69% in 2025), staff capacity (up from 52% in 2023 to 65% in 2025) and managerial time (up from 56% in 2023 to 64% in 2025) all improved over the last 2 years, but otherwise the overall picture was consistent.

Businesses who had exported or whose products could be developed for export were asked a set of questions on barriers to exporting, last asked in 2023^{[footnote 3]}. Around 6 in 10 (62%) of those who had exported goods before (to any market), and had exported or considered exporting to a core market, reported facing any barriers to their exports of goods. This was in line with 2023 but up from 45% in 2021.

The most mentioned barrier to exporting goods was that relating to customs procedures (53%, up from 32% in 2021). These changes from 2021 are likely to be driven by the change in core markets and the inclusion of the EU as a core market from 2023. Reported barriers to exporting goods to the EU were higher than for other core markets (driven by barriers related to custom procedures), as they had been in 2023.

Just over 4 in 10 (43%) of those who had exported services before (to any market), and had exported or considered exporting to a core market, reported facing any barriers to their exports of services. In contrast to the equivalent measure for barriers to goods exports, this was unchanged from when it was previously asked in 2018, 2021 and 2023, and does not appear to have been impacted by the inclusion of the EU as a key market from 2023.

Barriers faced were split fairly equally between those related to administrative costs, burdens and regulations abroad (28%), to the different treatment of domestic and foreign businesses (23%), and to the conditions for the supply of services abroad (22%). Unlike for exports of goods, there was no one barrier which stood out as being more likely to be faced by those exporting services to the EU than those exporting services to other core markets.

Free trade agreements (FTAs)

Among businesses who have or could export (‘sustain’, ‘reassure’ and ‘promote’ segments), 81% had heard of FTAs,^{[footnote 4]} though less than one in 4 (23%) reported knowing anything about them. Current or previous exporters (‘Sustain’ 28% and ‘Reassure’ 24%) were more likely to report knowledge of FTAs compared with potential exporters (‘promote’ 15%).

Despite overall low knowledge levels, 56% of all respondents agreed that FTAs would benefit their business, which was higher among current and previous exporters (61%). However, just over a third (35%) felt that they are confident in knowing how to trade through an FTA, and fewer (24%) agreed that the government is providing information and support to help businesses access the benefits of FTAs.

Agreement with these statements was consistent with 2024. For most businesses, GOV.UK was seen as the primary source they would use to find information about FTAs (73%). More than half mentioned the UK government (including DBT, 54%) or business or professional contacts (53%), though all had decreased compared with 2024.

Just over half (52%) of businesses who have ever exported reported that their goods or services were eligible for any FTA benefits, with the most commonly reported benefits being reduced customs duties (28%) and ability to easily transfer data between countries (22%).

Supply chains

In 2025, all businesses were asked about their experience of supply chains. Just under half (49%) reported any experience of supply chain issues, a decrease from 53% in 2024. Among these, 17% were currently experiencing supply chain issues, consistent with 2024, and 32% said these had been resolved.

Among all those who had experienced supply chain issues in the last 3 years, the most commonly cited causes for supply chain issues were the EU Exit (59%), general economic or inflationary pressure (54%) or COVID-19 (53%, a decrease from 63% in 2024).

Other causes of supply chain issues included:

• rising energy prices (42%)
• difficulty sourcing suitable or affordable parts (42%)
• the cost of shipping (40%)
• war or conflict (31%, a decrease from 44% in 2024)

A new code added in Q2 of wave 10, rising costs of tariffs, was cited by 29%.

Export knowledge and support

One fifth of businesses who do or could export felt that they had a high level of knowledge of how to export (19%), while a greater proportion felt they had low knowledge (29%), unchanged from 20% and 31% in 2024, respectively.

Around one in 4 businesses felt they had a high level of knowledge about where to go for information on exporting (24%) or help and support (22%). Though not significant changes from 2024, these figures are both declines since 2018 (34% and 32% respectively), and the lowest ever reported.

The proportion of those reporting a moderate level of knowledge about where to go for information about exporting (59%) and help and support with exporting (58%) both increased since 2024 (both 52%), and represents an upwards trend, with an increase from 2018 (44% and 46% respectively).

The proportion of businesses that do or could export who sought advice and support remained stable at 40% in 2025, compared with 43% in 2024.

Eight in 10 businesses that do or could export reported being aware of at least one UK government trade support service (80%), an increase from 72% in 2024. In line with previous years, the most common of these were GOV.UK tools ‘check how to export goods’ (54%). There was moderate awareness of Business.gov.uk services ‘report a trade barrier’ or ‘check international trade barriers’ at 32%.

Awareness of International Trade Advisers (27%) and the Export Support Service (ESS) (20%) were not significantly changed from 2024 (31% and 20%, respectively) but continued a decline from 38% and 31% in 2022.

Levels of usage were lower than their level of awareness, with GOV.UK tools ‘check how to export goods’ at 36%, Business.gov.uk services ‘report a trade barrier’ at 12%, the ESS at 7% and the UK Export Academy at 2%, all unchanged from 2024.

Expectations for growth and trade

In 2025, almost 2 thirds (65%) of businesses were aiming to grow, a slight, though not significant decrease from 68% in 2024. A further 23% were aiming for consolidation (again a slight but not significant increase from 20% in 2024) and 12% felt they needed to return to profitability.

Perceptions of there being a lot of demand for UK products and services around the world had been declining since 2020 (63% in 2020 to 52% in 2023). However, in 2024 this increased, with 62% agreeing with the statement, and remained stable in 2025 (61%). For reference, this measure peaked in 2017 when 73% thought there was a lot of demand and had been declining steadily since.

Other attitudes towards exporting

Other attitudes towards exporting were also stable in the last year. However, there has been an increase over the longer term in the proportion who feel there would not be enough demand for my business overseas to make it worthwhile (35%, up from 28% in 2020). There has also been a decrease in those who feel there is a lot of support available to help small and medium businesses start exporting (24% in 2025 down from 35% in 2020).

The balance of opinion on expectations for growth in the value of UK exports over the next 12 months has become more negative over the last year. There has been an increase in the proportion who felt the value of UK exports would decrease (30% in 2025 up from 22% in 2024). Almost a third (32%) felt that the value of exports will stay the same in the next 12 months (down from 38% in 2024), while around one in 5 (22%) felt that exports would increase, consistent with 2024 (24%).

Importing

Just under half of businesses stated that they had ever imported (45%), with 2 in 5 (38%) having imported in the last 12 months, consistent with 2024. In 2025, current exporters (those in the ‘sustain’ segment) were most likely to have also imported in the last 12 months, and lapsed exporters (‘reassure’) were most likely to have previously imported but not in the last 12 months, indicating that exporting and importing behaviour is closely related.

Advertising and campaign metrics

In 2021, high profile information and publicity around the EU Exit transition period contributed to higher awareness levels of communications activity on exporting. In 2022, awareness returned to the levels more typically seen in the years prior (28%), and has continued to incrementally decline to 22% in 2025.

Government remains the main source to which businesses attribute publicity around exporting. In 2025, general mentions of the UK government were unchanged (58% compared to 57% in 2024) as were specific mentions of the DBT or predecessor departments (16% in 2025, 14% in 2024)^{[footnote 5]}.

The MIUK campaign was DBT’s principal export promotion marketing campaign, designed to shift business attitudes towards exporting by making international growth feel more achievable and desirable. The campaign showcased real UK exporter success stories across sectors and places, and signposted businesses to government export support.

Paid marketing activity for the campaign ended on 31 March 2025, although some low-cost and no-cost export promotion activity continued under the campaign umbrella throughout 2025. The cross-government ‘Backing Your Business’ campaign is now established as the principal campaign on business support and includes export promotion. The ‘Backing Your Business’ campaign was not explored during wave 10 fieldwork, as in previous waves, the NSRB focus remained on the MIUK campaign.

The MIUK campaign was recognised by 21% of businesses, an increase from 11% in 2024, with fewer recognising ads for the UK Export Academy campaign (8%) or great.gov.uk help and support pages (8%). The 2025 MIUK campaign was largely seen as clear (75%) and a trusted source of information (69%).

Agreement that the campaign made it clear where to go for exporting information increased from 57% in 2024 to 70% in 2025. However, agreement that the ads stood out from other ads or was relevant to them was lower at 46% and 27%, respectively. Businesses who recognised the ads were asked if they had taken any action as a result. Overall, 22% had either taken some action, planned to take action, or would consider doing so in future, unchanged from 21% in 2024.

1. There were 5 overseas markets designated as ‘core markets’ at wave 10. The EU, the USA, the Gulf States, Australia and India and have been unchanged since wave 8. The EU was included as a core market for the first time in wave 8. These markets were chosen at the start of the 2025 wave on the basis of strategic significance for UK trade. ↩

2. In 2020, the exporting segments were measured using a new set of questions in the NSRB questionnaire, which improved the allocation of respondents to segments, leaving fewer respondents unallocated. Questions have remained consistent since then. Most respondents were allocated to 1 of the 4 exporting segments, with a small number of unallocated businesses being those who reported being unsure of exporting behaviour, or who refused to answer questions necessary for the segmentation. ↩

3. Two sets of barriers questions alternate between waves, covering internal and external barriers. Wave 10 covered external barriers, last asked in wave 8. ↩

4. FTAs set out the rules that cover trade between 2 or more countries and aim to make trading between these countries easier. This may include the removal or reduction of customs duties. See the UK’s trade agreements. ↩

5. In previous waves, this referred to mentions of Department for International Trade (DIT) or Department for Trade and Industry (DTI). DBT came into existence in February 2023. Since the 2024 survey, mentions of DIT or DTI were included in the DBT attribution figure. ↩