Official Statistics

Plant Health – international trade and controlled consignments, 2020-2024 – statistics publication

Published 23 October 2025

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These statistics present an analysis of international trade in plants and plant commodities[footnote 1] (including live plants, fruit, vegetables and cereals) – covering both the financial value and the physical scale (mass) of this trade. The release also presents an analysis of the notifications of controlled commodities – i.e., where imports are declared to plant health authorities in order for checks to be undertaken to ensure that traded goods meet required standards. Data cover the period 2020 to 2024 (Forestry Commission data cover 2020/21-2024/25). Geographical coverage is specified at the start of each section.

Key findings

  • In 2024, the value of trade in plants and plant commodities stood at £19bn with an associated net mass of 23,952 thousand tonnes. This was an increase of 26.0% in value and 4.7% in net mass since 2020.
  • Despite large increases in forestry export value and net mass, there was a decrease in overall exports value of £90 million and net mass of 1 million tonnes. In 2024, exports only made up 7.7% of all trade value, a decrease from 10.2% in 2020.
  • In 2024, trade with the EU accounted for 58% of the total trade value in plants and plant commodities, and 66% of overall net mass.
  • There were over 266,700 consignments notified to the Plant Health and Seeds Inspectorate (PHSI) in 2024, a decrease from over 593,700 in 2023, and similar to the number of notifications in 2021. These changes were driven by the phasing in of plant health controls and easements on imports from the EU.
  • In 2024/25, just under 3,500 consignments of controlled material were notified to the Forestry Commission. Consignments of softwood were at the lowest level of the time period in this year whilst consignments of hardwood were at the highest level.

Contents

Key findings

Introduction

What you need to know about this release

Trade in plants and plant products

Controlled Commodities

Plant Health and Seed Inspectorate

Forestry Commission

Glossary

Introduction

Plants are environmentally, economically, and socially important, providing a vital contribution to our food and timber supply and to the rural economy. Plants also perform an essential ecosystem service in shaping the landscape and supporting biodiversity and they have been linked to improved health and wellbeing[footnote 2].

The globalisation of trade has facilitated an increase in the volume and diversity of plants and plant commodities which enter the UK. This trade generates economic value but also needs to be regulated (controlled) due to the risk of pest and disease[footnote 3]. Plant health legislation[footnote 4] controls the import and movement of certain plants, trees, seeds, and organic matter - such as soil - and certain plant products, including fruit, potatoes, vegetables, cut flowers, timber, foliage, and grain.

The analysis below explores both the overall UK trade in plants and plant commodities, and the trade in controlled plant health and forestry commodities which informs the inspections undertaken by the Plant Health and Seed Inspectorate (PHSI) and the Forestry Commission (FC) to prevent plant pests and diseases from entering England and Wales, and, for Forestry Commission, Scotland[footnote 5].

Please note that the three datasets explored in this publication are not directly comparable. There are key differences in how each dataset is compiled and these are outlined further in the accompanying quality and methodology report.

What you need to know about this release

This statistical release is intended as a contribution to increase the wider understanding about trade in these commodities and about plant health. It is designed to provide stakeholders, internal and external to government, with information on the patterns of trade over time for a specific set of commodities. The primary aim is to facilitate discussion and aid decision making around biosecurity.

The release is not intended for the purpose of drawing inferences as to the effectiveness of plant health and forestry inspectorates.

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. You can read about how Official Statistics in Defra comply with these standards on the Defra Statistics website.

You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards using the contact details

sam.grant@defra.gov.uk Sam Grant, Plant Health Statistics, Horizon House, Deanery Rd, Bristol BS1 5TL.

Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

Impact of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) and the effect of EU exit on trade in plants and plant products

It is not possible to ascertain what the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and EU exit has been on trade in plants and plant products. This is because trade in plants and plant products is often volatile, due to climate and other factors, but also because changes are still ongoing, for example, changes to data systems and the full implementation of the Border Target Operating Model

The Office for National Statistics have published a report looking at the impacts of EU exit and the coronavirus on UK trade in goods: The impacts of EU exit and the coronavirus on UK trade in goods

For plants and plant products which require regulatory control the impact of EU exit, particularly imports from the EU to GB, will be ongoing as the UK phases in its checking regime: Imports of plants and plant products from the EU to GB

Trade in plants and plant products

His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) compiles statistics on commodities physically leaving and entering the UK, traded with both European Union (EU) Member States and non-EU countries. Non-EU trade is collected from customs declarations. Until 31 December 2020 EU trade data was collected via Intrastat which covered VAT-registered businesses whose annual value of arrivals and/or dispatches exceeded a given exemption threshold.[footnote 6]

For goods moving from 1 January 2021, statistics covering exports from Great Britain (England, Scotland, and Wales) to the EU have been compiled directly from customs export declarations made according to the requirements of the Taxation (Cross Border Trade) Act. Intrastat survey returns, however, continue to be collected for goods exported from Northern Ireland to the EU, under the terms of the Northern Ireland Protocol. Both the GB to EU customs export declaration data and Northern Ireland (NI) Intrastat export (dispatch) data are incorporated into the overall UK to EU export dataset. As a result of the changes and differences outlined above, there was a break in the timeseries for published UK to EU export statistics from January 2021.

During 2021 the Intrastat survey continued to operate for all UK (GB and NI) imports from the EU, to mitigate the effects of staging customs controls, and to comply with the Northern Ireland Protocol. From 1 January 2022 imports into Great Britain (GB) (England, Scotland, and Wales) from the EU are no longer covered by Intrastat. Customs declarations are used for imports of goods into GB from the EU and this information is used in combination with Intrastat data on imports into Northern Ireland from the EU, to create the overall UK’s imports dataset.

Throughout 2021, the introduction of temporary Staged Customs Controls (SCC) allowed GB importers of non-controlled EU goods the opportunity to defer submission of the full customs declaration for up to 175 days after the movement of goods. This had a reducing effect on the number of received customs declarations for EU imports in 2021, most notably in the first few months of the year. It is not possible to distinguish which customs declarations are associated with SCC and therefore remove or adjust the trade statistics.

The Office for National Statistics has produced a paper looking at investigating the impact of changes to HM Revenue and Customs data collection: Impact of trade in goods data collection changes on UK trade statistics: summary of adjustments and the structural break from 2021

Although not collected for plant health purposes the HMRC data does allow us to examine the patterns of trade for a sub-section of commodities, i.e., raw and simply processed plants and plant commodities, and to group these into categories. The categories covered in this release are:

  • Plants and planting material. This category includes bulbs, plants for planting, forest tree seed and cut flowers.
  • Food and crops. This category includes fruit, vegetables, cereals, nuts, herbs, and spices.
  • Forestry: This category includes timber (unprocessed or simply processed: sliced, planed, or chipped), packing cases, casks, and barrels.

Table 1: Value of trade in plants and plant commodities, 2020 to 2024, £ million

Sector 2020 2021(b) 2022(b) 2023(r) 2024(p) Value change 2020 to 2024 Percentage change 2020 to 2024
Imports              
Plants and planting material 1,012 1,164 1,643 1,562 1,576 563 55.7
Food and crops 10,572 10,194 12,094 12,147 13,326 2,754 26.1
Forestry 1,945 3,152 3,245 2,604 2,631 686 35.3
Total 13,529 14,510 16,982 16,313 17,533 4,004 29.6
Exports              
Plants and planting material 96 72 64 74 66 -30 -31.3
Food and crops 1,272 869 1,372 1,308 1003 -269 -21.1
Forestry 175 348 392 379 384 209 118.9
Total 1,543 1,289 1,829 1,761 1,453 -90 -5.8
All trade              
Plants and planting material 1,108 1,236 1,708 1,635 1,641 533 48.1
Food and crops 11,844 11,063 13,467 13,456 14,329 2,485 21.0
Forestry 2,120 3,500 3,637 2,983 3,015 895 42.2
Total 15,072 15,799 18,811 18,074 18,986 3,914 26.0

Notes:

  1. Data are calendar year.
  2. More information on sectors can be found in the glossary at the end.
  3. b indicates a break in the time series. In 2021 the break related to changes in the recording of exports, in 2022 the break related to changes in the recording of imports.
  4. r indicates revised data.
  5. p indicates provisional data.
  6. Numbers may not sum to totals due to rounding.

Source: Overseas Trade Data, HMRC

Table 1 shows the total value of trade in plants and plant commodities, by sector, between 2020 and 2024.

  • Overall, the value of all trade in 2024 was the highest that it had been for the past five years (£18.9bn).

  • Compared to 2023, import value in 2024 was up by 7.5% and export value was down by 17.5%. Exports accounted for 7.7% of all trade value compared to 9.7% in 2023.

  • For import value, plants and planting material had seen the highest percentage increase (55.7%) since 2020, but the smallest increase since 2023 (0.9%), whilst food and crops had the lowest percentage increase (26.1%) since 2020, but the highest since 2023 (9.7%). All three sectors had been relatively stable in the last two years.

  • For export value, over the five-year period, both plants and planting material and food and crops decreased, while export value for forestry had more than doubled in the period (118.9% increase).

Table 2: Net mass of trade in plants and plant commodities, 2020 to 2024, ‘000 tonnes

Sector 2020 2021(b) 2022(b) 2023(r) 2024(p) Value change 2020 to 2024 Percentage change 2020 to 2024
Imports              
Plants and planting material 310 356 488 454 453 143 46.0
Food and crops 13,974 13,166 13,365 12,971 15,820 1,846 13.2
Forestry 4,642 5,121 4,595 4,297 4,826 184 4.0
Total 18,926 18,643 18,448 17,723 21,099 2,173 11.5
Exports              
Plants and planting material 34 25 22 21 19 -15 -44.3
Food and crops 3,426 1,960 3,134 3,280 1,739 -1,687 -49.2
Forestry 484 873 1,074 1,181 1,095 611 126.1
Total 3,944 2,858 4,231 4,483 2,853 -1,091 -27.7
All trade              
Plants and planting material 344 380 510 476 471 128 37.1
Food and crops 17,400 15,126 16,499 16,251 17,559 159 0.9
Forestry 5,126 5,994 5,669 5,478 5,922 795 15.5
Total 22,869 21,501 22,678 22,205 23,952 1,082 4.7

Notes:

  1. Data are calendar year.
  2. More information on sectors can be found in the glossary at the end.
  3. b indicates a break in the time series. In 2021 the break related to changes in the recording of exports, in 2022 the break related to changes in the recording of imports.
  4. r indicates revised data.
  5. p indicates provisional data.
  6. Numbers may not sum to totals due to rounding.

Source: Overseas Trade Data, HMRC

Table 2 shows the total net mass of trade in plants and plant commodities, by sector, between 2020 and 2024.

  • Net mass of all trade was at its highest level of the time period in 2024 (23,952 thousand tonnes). There was a small percentage increase in total net mass of all trade between 2023 and 2024 (7.9%), namely due to the increase in imports being over twice the size of the decrease in exports (3,376 thousand tonnes increase, 1,630 thousand tonnes decrease respectively).
  • Between 2023 and 2024, there was a 22.0% increase in food and crops import net mass, but a corresponding decrease of 47.0% in exports, resulting in a larger increase in all food and crops trade (8.0%) between these two years than over five years (0.9% increase since 2020.
  • Similar to the value of forestry exports, forestry net mass had more than doubled since 2020. Imports in this sector had seen a larger increase in value (35.3%) than in net mass (12.3%) since 2020, but a larger increase in net mass (12.3%) than value (1.1%) since 2023.
  • Overall trade in plants and planting material saw a 37.1% increase in net mass since 2020, the largest increase of the three sectors, despite the percentage decrease in exports being similar to the percentage increase in imports (44.3% decrease for exports, 46.0% increase for imports). However, since 2023, both imports and exports for plants and planting material had seen small decreases in net mass (-0.4% for imports, -11.7% for exports).

Figure 1: Changes in international trade of plants and plant commodities, 2020 to 2024

Source: Overseas Trade Data, HMRC

Table 3: Value of UK-EU trade in plants and plant commodities, 2020 to 2024, £ million

Sector 2020 2021(b) 2022(b) 2023(r) 2024(p) Value change 2020 to 2024 Percentage change 2020 to 2024
EU Imports              
Plants and planting material 849 884 1,334 1,265 1,254 404 47.6
Food and crops 5,107 4,453 5,650 5,918 6,418 1,311 25.7
Forestry 1,546 2,579 2,764 2,186 2,152 605 39.2
Total 7,503 7,916 9,747 9,368 9,823 2,320 30.9
EU Exports              
Plants and planting material 77 54 46 56 43 -34 -44.4
Food and crops 994 666 1,131 1,083 772 -222 -22.4
Forestry 140 311 344 326 328 188 133.9
Total 1,212 1,030 1,521 1,465 1,143 -69 -5.7
All EU trade              
Plants and planting material 926 937 1,380 1,320 1,296 370 39.9
Food and crops 6,101 5,119 6,781 7,001 7,190 1,089 17.8
Forestry 1,687 2,890 3,108 2,511 2,480 793 47.0
Total 8,714 8,946 11,268 10,833 10,966 2,252 25.8

Notes:

  1. Data are calendar year.
  2. More information on sectors can be found in the glossary at the end.
  3. b indicates a break in the time series. In 2021 the break related to changes in the recording of exports, in 2022 the break related to changes in the recording of imports.
  4. r indicates revised data.
  5. p indicates provisional data.
  6. Numbers may not sum to totals due to rounding.

Source: Overseas Trade Data, HMRC

Table 3 shows the value of commodities that were imported into the UK from the EU and commodities exported from the UK to the EU between 2020 and 2024, by sector.

  • Total EU trade value increased by 25.8% since 2020. Although there was a small decrease in export value (-5.7%), there was a 30.9% increase in import trade value. However, between 2023 and 2024, the increase in total EU trade value was minimal (1.2%), namely due to a large decrease in EU export value (-22.0%).
  • Since 2020, forestry was the only sector to see increases in both EU import and export value resulting in the largest percentage increase in all EU trade value (47%). However, there had been a small decrease in EU forestry import value (-1.6%) since 2023, and only a small increase in export value (0.8%), resulting in a net decrease of 1.2% between 2023 and 2024.
  • In 2024, export value for plants and planting material was at its lowest over the five-year period whilst imports experienced a gradual decrease from a high of £1,334m in 2022.
  • Food and crops was the only sector that saw increases in EU import value from 2023 to 2024 (8.4% increase) although there was a 28.8% decrease in EU export value.

Table 4: Net mass of UK-EU trade in plants and plant commodities, 2020 to 2024, ‘000 tonnes

Sector 2020 2021(b) 2022(b) 2023(r) 2024(p) Value change 2020 to 2024 Percentage change 2020 to 2024
EU Imports              
Plants and planting material 266 287 418 384 383 117 44.0
Food and crops 6,472 5,888 6,335 6,277 8,347 1,875 29.0
Forestry 4,060 4,415 4,247 3,993 4,496 437 10.8
Total 10,798 10,590 10,999 10,654 13,226 2,428 22.5
EU Exports              
Plants and planting material 30 21 20 19 16 -14 -47.2
Food and crops 2,584 1,631 2,777 2,959 1,499 -1,085 -42.0
Forestry 436 808 1,017 1,127 1005 570 130.7
Total 3,050 2,460 3,813 4,106 2,520 -530 -17.4
All EU trade              
Plants and planting material 296 308 438 403 399 103 34.7
Food and crops 9,056 7,519 9,112 9,236 9,846 789 8.7
Forestry 4,496 5,224 5,263 5,120 5,502 1,006 22.4
Total 13,848 13,050 14,813 14,760 15,746 1,898 13.7

Notes:

  1. Data are calendar year.
  2. More information on sectors can be found in the glossary at the end.
  3. b indicates a break in the time series. In 2021 the break related to changes in the recording of exports, in 2022 the break related to changes in the recording of imports.
  4. r indicates revised data.
  5. p indicates provisional data.
  6. Numbers may not sum to totals due to rounding.

Source: Overseas Trade Data, HMRC

Table 4 shows the net mass of commodities that were imported into the UK from the EU and commodities exported from the UK to the EU between 2020 and 2024, by sector.

  • The total net mass of UK - EU trade in plants and plant products was at its highest level of the period in 2024 (15,746 thousand tonnes). Exports represented 16% of total net mass.

  • Between 2023 and 2024, there was a 24.1% increase in the net mass of EU imports, but a 38.6% decrease in the net mass of exports to the EU.

  • For EU exports, between 2023 and 2024, the net mass of plants and planting material saw a decrease of only 14.4%, while the net mass of food and crops nearly halved (-49.4%).

  • Both forestry and food and crops saw an increase in the net mass of EU imports from 2023 to 2024, but plants and planting material remained fairly stable, decreasing by around 1,600 tonnes.

Chart 1a: Distribution of value of UK and EU trade in plants and plant commodities, 2020 to 20241,2,3

Chart 1b: Distribution of net mass of UK and EU trade in plants and plant commodities, 2020 to 20241,2,3

Notes:

  1. Data are calendar year.
  2. (p) indicates data are provisional.
  3. There were breaks in the recording of exports in 2021 and imports in 2022 meaning figures are not directly comparable.

Source: Overseas Trade Data, HMRC

  • Forestry was the only sector where the proportion of trade that was export value and net mass increased from 2020 to 2024.

  • While plants and planting material and forestry had a very similar split between EU import and export value in 2020, there was nearly a ten-percentage point difference between the two sectors in 2024.

  • Plants and planting material saw a slightly larger increase in the proportion of import net mass (6.3 percentage points) compared to the increase in value (5.0 percentage points), but there was a notably larger increase in the percentage share of food and crops import net mass (13.3 percentage point increase, compared to 5.6 percentage point increase for import value).

Table 5: Value of UK-non-EU trade in plants and plant commodities, 2020 to 2024, £ million

Sector 2020 2021 2022 2023(r) 2024(p) Value change 2020 to 2024 Percentage change 2020 to 2024
Non-EU Imports              
Plants and planting material 163 281 309 297 322 159 97.8
Food and crops 5,465 5,741 6,445 6,230 6,909 1,443 26.4
Forestry 399 573 481 418 480 81 20.3
Total 6,027 6,594 7,235 6,945 7,710 1,683 27.9
Non-EU Exports              
Plants and planting material 19 18 18 18 23 4 23.0
Food and crops 277 203 241 225 231 -46 -16.7
Forestry 35 38 48 53 55 21 58.9
Total 331 259 308 297 310 -21 -6.5
All non-EU trade              
Plants and planting material 182 299 328 315 345 164 90.1
Food and crops 5,743 5,944 6,686 6,455 7,140 1,397 24.3
Forestry 434 610 529 471 535 102 23.4
Total 6,358 6,853 7,543 7,241 8,020 1,662 26.1

Notes:

  1. Data are calendar year.
  2. More information on sectors can be found in the glossary at the end of this document.
  3. (r) indicates revised data.
  4. (p) indicates provisional data.
  5. Numbers may not sum to totals due to rounding

Source: Overseas Trade Data, HMRC

Table 5 shows the value of commodities that were imported into the UK from countries outside of the EU and commodities exported from the UK to countries outside of the EU between 2020 and 2024, by sector.

  • The increases and decreases seen in EU trade were not always reflected in non-EU trade. From 2023 to 2024, the value of EU exports for plants and planting material decreased by 23.0%, while the value of non-EU exports increased by 26.8%.

  • From 2020 to 2024, only the value of non-EU exports for food and crops decreased, falling by 16.7%, which, as the largest sector, resulted in a net decrease in the value of non-EU exports.

  • Between 2023 and 2024 all sectors and trade flows saw increases in value. Forestry had the highest percentage increase for non-EU imports (14.7%) whilst plants and planting material had the highest percentage increase for non-EU exports (26.8%).

  • Trade with non-EU countries made up 42% of the value of all trade in 2024, an increase from 40% of the value of overall trade in 2023. The percentage share has remained between 40-44% over the five-year period.

Table 6: Net mass of non-EU trade in plants and plant commodities, 2020 to 2024, ‘000 tonnes

Sector 2020 2021 2022 2023(r) 2024(p) Value change 2020 to 2024 Percentage change 2020 to 2024
Non-EU Imports              
Plants and planting material 44 69 70 70 70 26 57.6
Food and crops 7,501 7,278 7,030 6,694 7,473 -29 -0.4
Forestry 582 706 348 304 330 -252 -43.3
Total 8,128 8,053 7,448 7,069 7,872 -255 -3.1
Non-EU Exports              
Plants and planting material 3 3 2 2 3 -1 -16.1
Food and crops 842 329 357 321 240 -602 -71.5
Forestry 49 65 57 54 90 41 85.3
Total 894 397 417 377 333 -561 -62.8
All non-EU trade              
Plants and planting material 47 72 72 72 72 25 52.7
Food and crops 8,343 7,607 7,387 7,015 7,713 -630 -7.6
Forestry 631 771 406 358 420 -211 -33.4
Total 9,021 8,450 7,866 7,446 8,205 -816 -9.0

Notes:

  1. Data are calendar year.
  2. More information on sectors can be found in the glossary at the end of this document.
  3. (r) indicates revised data.
  4. (p) indicates provisional data.
  5. Numbers may not sum to totals due to rounding

Source: Overseas Trade Data, HMRC

Table 6 shows the net mass of commodities that were imported into the UK from countries outside of the EU and commodities exported from the UK to from countries outside of the EU between 2020 and 2024, by sector.

  • While the value of non-EU trade increased by 26.1% between 2020 and 2024, the net mass decreased by 9.0% overall. This has been driven by decreases in the net mass of trade in food and crops and forestry. The only increases in non-EU net mass were imports of plants and planting material and exports of forestry.

  • Despite many sectors and flows of non-EU trade seeing a decrease in net mass over the five-year period, all bar the exports of food and crops have seen an increase or remained stable since 2023.

  • Overall, plants and planting material was the only sector to see an increase in net mass since 2019 (19.6%) but remains the smallest sector. Forestry experienced the largest decrease at 42.3% in total, comprising a decrease of 42.7% in import net mass and 39.6% in export net mass.

  • There were decreases in the net mass of non-EU imports of food and crops and forestry over the five-year period however between 2023 to 2024 both sectors saw similar increases in net mass of non-EU imports (11.6% and 8.4%, respectively).

Chart 2a: Distribution of value of UK and non-EU trade in plants and plant commodities, 2020 to 20241,2,3

Chart 2b: Distribution of net mass of UK and non-EU trade in plants and plant commodities, 2020 to 20241,2,3

Notes:

  1. Data are calendar year.
  2. (p) indicates data are provisional.
  3. There were breaks in the recording of exports in 2021 and imports in 2022 meaning figures are not directly comparable.

Source: Overseas Trade Data, HMRC

  • The proportion of non-EU trade value that was imports remained high. In particular, imports went from making up 95.2% of food and crops non-EU trade value in 2020, to 96.8% in 2024.

  • The share of import net mass of food and crops increased by 7.0 percentage points, compared to only 1.6 percentage point increase for import value. Similarly, the share of import net mass for forestry decreased by a large 13.8 percentage points, whereas the import value for forestry only decreased by 2.2 percentage points.

  • For all categories except forestry net mass, there was less variation in percentage share for non-EU trade, than for EU trade.

Figure 2: Changes in trade of plants and plant commodities between 2020 and 2024, by broad region of trade

Source: Overseas Trade Data, HMRC

Controlled Commodities

The Plant Health and Seed Inspectorate (PHSI) implements and enforces plant health policy in England and in Wales (on behalf of the Welsh Government). The Forestry Commission (FC) implements and enforces plant health policy in England and Scotland, and in Wales via Natural Resources Wales (NRW).

PHSI and FC conduct inspections of controlled plant materials, including plants for planting. The controls of such materials differ according to the species - and what quarantine organisms they may carry – but may include phytosanitary certificates, plant passports and/or physical inspection. More detailed information covering the activities of the inspection services is available in the Multi Annual National Control Plan reports[footnote 7].

Under EU legislation plants, fruit, vegetables, and plant material from outside the EU fall into three categories: ‘unrestricted’, ‘controlled’, and ‘prohibited’ material. Plant passports facilitate the movement of controlled commodities within the EU area whilst inspections of relevant businesses are conducted ‘in field’, generally between 2 and 4 times per year. Commodities imported from outside of the EU area need to be declared on entry to the EU and can then move freely across the EU area. In December 2019 the EU introduced new legislation pertaining to plants and plant products. Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072 and its Annexes replaced the Annexes of Directive 2000/29/EC[footnote 8]. Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072 covers more plants and plant commodities than the previous legislation.

Now that the UK has left the EU new legislation is in place[footnote 9] and, following the end of the transition period (31 December 2020), there are new processes for importing plants and plant products, including wood and wood products, from the EU. These are detailed in the Guidance on importing and exporting plants and plant products from 1 January 2021

Under the new UK legislation plants, fruit, vegetables, cut flowers, soil and other regulated objects (for example, machinery) fall into five categories of phytosanitary control:

  • ‘Prohibited’ - Can only bring into Great Britain if a scientific research license or derogation is obtained.
  • ‘Prohibited (pending risk assessment)’ – material you can only bring into Great Britain if risk assessed by Defra. (Exclusions apply).
  • ‘Regulated and notifiable’ – material you can only bring into Great Britain if accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate and advanced notification of landing.
  • ‘Regulated’ – material you can only bring into Great Britain if accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate. After applicants complete a customs entry, a small number of these consignments may need advanced notification on CHIEF (Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight).
  • ‘Unregulated’ – material you can bring into Great Britain without a phytosanitary certificate or advanced notification.

Great Britain (England, Scotland, and Wales) has adopted a phased approach to plant health controls for plants and plant products imported from the European Union (EU). This phased approach started in January 2021 and is proposed to be completed in 2025 however discussions on SPS trade are ongoing.

  • Since 1 January 2021, high-priority plants and plant products have required pre-notification and a phytosanitary certificate (PC) when being imported from the EU, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland. These include all plants for planting, ware potatoes, some seed for sowing and other plant or forest reproductive material, some wood and wood products and used agricultural or forestry machinery.
  • Since 1 January 2022, notification of import has been required for some other regulated and notifiable plants and plant products imported from the EU (except the Republic of Ireland) including growing medium attached to plants, root and tubercle vegetables, some leafy vegetables, some fresh produce (fruit and vegetables), some seeds (in addition to those on the high-priority list) and some cut flowers.
  • Since November 2023 an easement has been applied to fruit and vegetables imported from the EU. Products included in the easement do not need to provide an import notification and are not subject to import checks at the GB border until the easement ends on 1 July 2025[footnote 10].
  • Since 31 January 2024 medium risk goods have required a phytosanitary certificate.
  • Reviews of Annex XI led to the deregulation of some commodities at two points, May and September 2024.

The analysis below focuses on consignments of commodities classed as controlled and arriving at points of entry in Great Britain (England and Wales for PHSI, England, Wales, and Scotland for FC). These consignments are subject to inspection activities ranging from document checks to physical inspections. The level of checks required for different types of commodities varies but the highest risk commodities are subject to full checks (100%). In addition, emergency measures [footnote 11] can be introduced which may restrict trade due to changes in import requirements.

Controlled commodities are a subset of the trade analysis shown above (which also includes unrestricted commodities); however, data are not comparable to that provided by HMRC due to differences in measurement units, geographies, and purpose. More information can be found in the accompanying quality and methodology report.

Plant Health and Seed Inspectorate

The Plant Health and Seed Inspectorate (PHSI) is part of the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) and implements and enforces plant health policy in England, and in Wales on behalf of the Welsh Government. PHSI carry out inspections of plants, seeds, bulbs, cut flowers, planting materials, fruits, vegetables and some used agricultural machinery.

It is important to note that changes in the number of consignments may be influenced by changes in trade patterns as well as by legislative changes. Factors which can contribute to changes in trade patterns include climate events, changes in market demand, social unrest or change, pest outbreaks etc. Controls may be applied to any number of countries where there is a pest risk but additionally countries may apply self-prohibition if they are aware of a pest issue in their country. Where self-prohibition is applied there are no formal reporting routes and often information cannot be confirmed:

  • Following the departure from the EU, the Plant Health (Phytosanitary Conditions) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 implemented on 1 January 2021, amended the Commision Implementing Regulation 2019/2072 to deregulate fruits of Actinidia, Fortunella, Poncirus, Diospyros, Gossypium, Mangifera, Passiflora, Psidium and fruit and leaves of Citrus and leaves of Murraya.
  • Subsequent amendments to 2019/2072 include the additional controls on plants for planting of Coffea, Polygala myrtifolia, Lavandula, Nerium oleander, Salvia rosmarinus, Olea europaea and Prunus dulcis (the Official Controls and Phytosanitary Conditions (Amendment) Regulations 2021). Controls have been strengthened on plants of Cedrus and Pinus (The Phytosanitary Conditions (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2022) and new controls have been added on plants for planting of Capsicum and Solanum lycopersicum (The Official Controls (Plant Health) (Prior Notification) and Phytosanitary Conditions (Amendment) Regulations 2023). The Official Controls (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2024 deregulated a number of plant materials, including fruit of Fragaria, Malus, Persea americana, Pyrus, Vaccinium, and root and tubercle vegetables (not including ware or seed potatoes) from the EU an Switzerland.
  • Bans have been imposed on plants of Polymnia sonchifolia from any third country (by the Phytosanitary Conditions (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2021) and on plants of Abies, Pinus, Picea, Larix, and Tsuga from Russia (by the Phytosanitary Conditions (Amendment) Regulations 2022). There have been self-imposed bans from Bangladesh (which is ongoing), and Peru (which has now ended following a Defra/SENASA agreement). These can be very limited (for example to one exporter) or more general.

Table 7: Number of controlled consignments, by commodity type, England and Wales, 2020 to 2024

Year Plants for planting Cut flowers and flower buds Foliage, branches and other parts of plants Seed and tissue culture Fruit and nuts Vegetables Other Total
2020 3,173 18,933 141 576 73,055 48,559 1,674 146,111
2021(b) 92,151 31,028 360 1,876 58,139 61,032 1,816 246,402
2022(b) 101,099 87,125 1,398 2,202 97,789 186,048 3,652 479,313
2023(r) 129,996 88,066 8,178 2,253 126,867 232,303 6,111 593,774
2024 81,996 56,635 6,826 2,894 56,583 56,785 5,016 266,735
Value change 2020-2024 78,823 37,702 6,685 2,318 -16,472 8,226 3,342 120,624
Percentage change 2020-2024 2,484 199 4,726 403 -22.5 17 200 83

Notes:

  1. Data are calendar year.
  2. See glossary for information on commodity types.
  3. b: 2021 - Following the UKs exit from the EU, GB specific legislation has been introduced and a phasing in of plant health controls is currently in progress. From January 2021 all regulated and notifiable high priority plants and plant products imported from the EU have been subject to plant health controls. Additionally, some commodities have been deregulated.
  4. b: 2022 From January 2022 notification of import has been required for some other regulated and notifiable plants and plant products imported from the EU. More information is provided in the Controlled Commodities section above.
  5. r: 2023 - Commodity categories have been revised to reflect new IPAFFS commodity groups. A small number of products recorded in PEACH could potentially be mapped to more than one category, so these commodities have been proportionally assigned to categories based on 2023 IPAFFS data. This issue affects circa 13,200 consignments recorded in PEACH during 2023 and more information can be found in the accompanying Quality and Methodology report.

Source: Plant Health and Seed Inspectorate.

Table 7 shows the number of controlled consignments notified to PHSI, by commodity type.

  • The majority of increases in notified consignments have followed key legislative changes; with changes relating to the UK exiting the EU and the phasing in of plant health controls having an impact from 2021.

  • The highest level of imported consignments was seen in 2023 (593,774) however the number of consignments pre-notified decreased by 55% in 2024 (266,735). There are several factors which are or may be influencing the decrease in import consignments between 2023 and 2024. These include (1) the introduction of the fruit and vegetable easement in January 2024 means that importers do not need to notify PHSI of medium-risk fresh fruit and vegetable imports from the EU, (2) the impacts of recent deregulations (see bullet points above), (3) changes in the way goods are imported, for example, larger and fewer consignments to minimise costs or the cessation of imports following the introduction of controls, (4) stockpiling of imported commodities prior to the introduction of phased controls, (5) non-compliance with plant health regulations.

  • As expected, due to the fruit and vegetable easement, the largest decreases in numbers of pre-notified consignments between 2023 and 2024 were vegetables (-76%) and fruit and nuts (-55%). Other commodity groups had decreases of between 17% and 37%.

Chart 3: Controlled consignments by commodity type, England and Wales 2020 to 20241,2

Notes:

  1. Data are calendar year.
  2. See glossary for information on commodity types.

Source: Plant Health and Seed Inspectorate.

  • In 2020 consignments of plants for planting represented only 2.2% of notified consignments but following EU exit, imports of plants for planting from the EU were required to be pre-notified to PHSI resulting in these imports representing a much larger proportion of all notified consignments in the years since 2020.

  • Since 2022 fruit and nuts have accounted for around one fifth of all pre-notified consignments.

  • The proportion of notified consignments that were vegetables stood at around 39% in 2022 and 2023 but decreased to 21.3% in 2024. Although this may reflect the impact of the fruit and vegetable easement, the same picture was not seen for fruit reflecting that a large amount of fruit is imported from non-EU countries.

Table 8: Number of controlled consignments, by region of origin, England and Wales, 2020 to 2024

Year Africa Americas Asia Europe Oceania Other Total
2020 77,825 32,592 32,581 1,186 1,927 - 146,111
2021(b) 88,423 29,453 36,910 90,133 1,473 10 246,402
2022(b) 90,184 31,495 29,101 327,433 1,098 2 479,313
2023(r) 94,385 35,442 33,740 429,276 922 9 593,774
2024 80,577 34,617 25,936 124,468 990 147 266,735
Value change 2020-2024 2,752 2,025 -6,645 123,282 -937 z 120,624
Percentage change 2020-2024 4 6 -20.4 10,395 -48.6 z 83

Notes:

  1. Data are calendar year.
  2. Table uses UNSD geographies
  3. Prior to 2021, Europe only included non-EU countries.
  4. Includes records where the origin is unknown or the entry is ambiguous.
  5. b: 2021 - Following the UKs exit from the EU, GB specific legislation has been introduced and a phasing in of plant health controls is currently in progress. From January 2021 all regulated and notifiable high priority plants and plant products imported from the EU have been subject to plant health controls. Additionally, some commodities have been deregulated.
  6. b: 2022 From January 2022 notification of import has been required for some other regulated and notifiable plants and plant products imported from the EU. More information is provided in the Controlled Commodities section above.
  7. r: 2023 data has been revised following improved reporting relating to IPAFFS commodity groups.
  8. z indicates data are not applicable.

Source: Plant Health and Seed Inspectorate.

Table 8 shows the number of controlled consignments notified to PHSI, by region of origin.

  • The number of controlled consignments from Europe has significantly increased since 2021, with each stage of the Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) being implemented resulting in more European imports needing to be pre-notified. The largest increase was seen between 2021 and 2022 (237,300 more notified consignments). This has led to an unnaturally high percentage change in both European and total consignments, which may be more reflective of regulation change than of changes in trade.

  • Between 2023 and 2024 the number of notified consignments from Europe decreased by 71%. The potential reasons for this decrease are outlined in the bullet points for Table 7.

  • There was a continual decrease in consignments from Oceania between 2020 and 2023 however a small increase, of 68 consignments, was seen in 2024.

  • Although consignments from Africa, Asia and the Americas showed a general trend of increases between 2020 and 2023 all of these regions had a decline in consignment numbers between 2023 and 2024.

Chart 4: Controlled consignments by region of origin, 2020 to 20241,2

Notes:

  1. Data are calendar year.
  2. Chart uses UNSD geographies

Source: Plant Health and Seed Inspectorate.

  • Europe has proportionally had the largest share of imports since 2021 when the UK exited Europe and requirements to notify imported consignments were introduced.

  • In 2024 the proportion of consignments from Europe decreased by 25.6 percentage points.

  • The changes in proportions of consignments from non-EU countries are likely driven by the changes in EU consignments however Africa remains the second largest source of notified consignments in every year since 2021.

Forestry Commission

The Forestry Commission (FC) are responsible for inspections of timber, including sawn timber, wood shavings, wood chips, sawdust, controlled firewood[footnote 12] and prefabricated buildings made of wood being imported to England, Scotland and Wales. The Forestry Commission are also responsible for inspections of wood packaging[footnote 13] however this trade is not covered by this release.

It is important to note that changes in the number of consignments may be influenced by changes in trade patterns as well as by legislative changes. Factors which can contribute to changes in trade patterns include climate events, changes in market demand, social unrest or change, pest outbreaks etc. Controls may be applied to any number of countries where there is a pest risk but additionally countries may apply self-prohibition if they are aware of a pest issue in their country.

The war in Ukraine had a major impact on bulk imports of sawn conifer timber from Russia. In the last few months of the 2021/22 financial year these imports were replaced by uncontrolled imports from the EU however in 2022/23 substitution for Russian sawn timber was less of an issue.

An additional group of commodities are included in the data from 2021/22 onwards. These are wood shavings, wood chips, sawdust and ‘other’ (mainly oak barrel imports) and the measurement unit is kilograms rather than cubic metres. These data have not been included in the charts below but are included in the tables.

Chart 5a and 5b: Number of controlled consignments by timber type, 2020/21-2024/25

5a Number of consignments

Please note that chart 5b only contains volumes of commodities recorded in cubic metres. From 2021/22, import data also contained entries of new commodities which are recorded in kilograms. These new commodities’ masses are included in the tables below but will not be considered for inclusion in chart 5b until a full set of datapoints are available.

5b. Volume of material

Notes:

  1. Data are financial year.

Source: Forestry Commission.

  • While the number of hardwood consignments increased year on year, from 1,429 consignments in 2021/22 to 2,546 consignments in 2024/25, softwood consignments peaked in 2021/22 at 2,531 consignments, and then more than halved in the following year (1,177 consignments) before continuing to decrease, reaching a low of 938 consignments in 2024/25.

  • Despite the number of hardwood consignments in 2024/25 being almost three times higher than the number of softwood consignments, the volume of softwood consignments (105,404m3) remained higher than the volume of hardwood consignments (93,634m3). However, in this year, the volume was the closest it had been over the five-year period with a difference of only 11,770m3.

  • The total number of consignments (softwood and hardwood combined) was highest in 2021/22, as requirements to pre-notify EU imports were introduced, standing at 4,569 consignments. Imports remained stable between 2022/23 and 2024/25 (between 3,441 and 3,496 consignments).

Table 9: Controlled consignments of softwood, by region of origin, 2020/21 to 2024/251

2020/21(b) 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 Value change 2020/21-2024/25 Percentage change 2020/21-2024/25
Number of consignments              
Africa 4 7 26 c 14 10 250
Asia 13 4 c 9 10 -3 -23
Oceania 27 27 35 78 37 10 37.0
Central and South America 28 39 44 29 20 -8 -28.6
North America 815 1,043 541 509 529 -286 -35.1
Europe3 542 1,411 531 440 328 -214 -39.5
Total 1,429 2,531 1,177 1,065 938 -491 -34.4
Volume of notified product (m3)              
Africa 159 341 1,410 c 150 -9 -6
Asia 986 241 c 13,455 357 -629 -64
Oceania 1,266 1,156 1,697 2,994 1,392 126 10.0
Central and South America 2,634 3,216 3,900 1,616 1,933 -701 -26.6
North America 42,484 64,637 28,962 25,397 25,823 -16,661 -39.2
Europe3 351,125 470,899 110,739 76,102 75,749 -275,376 -78.4
Total 398,654 540,490 146,708 119,564 105,404 -293,250 -73.6
Mass of notified product (kg)              
Africa x c 82,980 0 329,898 z z
North America/Europe x 1,617,932 5,748,830 8,221,486 5,664,145 z z
Asia/Oceania/Central and South America x x x 9,525 97 z z
Total x 1,617,932 5,831,810 8,231,011 5,994,140 z z

Notes:

  1. Table uses UNSD geographies
  2. Data are financial year.
  3. Prior to 2021, Europe only included non-EU countries
  4. b. 2020/21 -Following the UKs exit from the EU, GB specific legislation has been introduced and there has been a phasing in of plant health controls. From January 2021 all regulated and notifiable high priority plants and plant products imported from the EU have been subject to plant health controls. Additionally, some commodities have been de-regulated.
  5. x indicates data are not available.
  6. z indicates data are not applicable.
  7. c indicates data are confidential and have been supressed.

Source: Forestry Commission.

Table 9 shows the number of controlled consignments of softwood and the associated volume of material notified to FC, by region of origin.

  • Only Africa and Oceania saw an increase in the number of consignments from 2020/21 to 2024/25, and only Oceania saw an increase in the volume. Both the number and volume of consignments from Oceania peaked in 2023/24 but then more than halved in 2024/25.

  • Over half the pre-notified consignments in 2024/25 were from North America (56.4%), which was an increase from 2023/24 (47.8%), but a slight decrease from 2020/21 (57%).

  • Europe had the largest decreases of any region in both number and volume of consignments, -39.5% in consignments and -78.4% in volume when comparing 2020/21 to 2024/25.

  • While the change in mass of notified product couldn’t be calculated, the total mass in 2024/25 returned to a similar level as 2022/23, after a peak of 8,231,011kg in 2023/24. This change was mainly driven by a decrease in the mass of notified product from North America and Europe.

Chart 6a: Softwood consignments, by region of origin, 2020/21 to 2024/251,2,3

Please note that chart 6b only contains volumes of commodities recorded in cubic metres. From 2021/22 import data also contained entries of new commodities which are recorded in kilograms. These new commodities’ masses are included in the tables below but not in charts as only two data points are available.

Chart 6b: Softwood volume, by region of origin, 2020/21 to 2024/251,2,3

Notes:

  1. Data are financial year.
  2. Charts use UNSD geographies
  3. Prior to 2021, Europe only included non-EU countries.

Source: Forestry Commission.

  • The proportion of softwood consignments imported from Europe was at its lowest in 2024/25, accounting for 35% of all softwood consignments compared to 55.7% in 2021/22.

  • Despite North America accounting for the most consignments in four out of the five years since 2020/21, Europe accounted for the most volume of notified product in all five years.

  • Between 2023/24 and 2024/25, the “Other” region decreased by 2.3 percentage points for the number of consignments (from 10.9% to 8.6%) and 11.5 percentage points for softwood volume (from 15.1% to 3.6%). This was driven by a peak in the volume of Asian consignments in 2023/24.

Table 10: Controlled consignments of hardwood, by region of origin, England, Scotland and Wales, 2020/21 to 2024/25

2020/21(b) 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 Value change 2020/21-2024/25 Percentage change 2020/21-2024/25
Number of consignments              
North America 1,411 1,822 1,461 1,408 1,452 41 2.9
Europe/Asia3 9 216 803 1,023 1,094 1,085 12,055.6
Total 1,420 2,038 2,264 2,431 2,546 1,126 79.3
Volume of notified product (m3)              
North America 83,113 58,670 50,520 47,252 49,339 -33,774 -40.6
Europe/Asia3 443 9,713 37,153 43,067 44,295 43,852 9,898.9
Total 83,556 68,383 87,673 90,319 93,634 10,078 12.1
Mass of notified product (kg)              
North America x 30,973 41,584 41,669 221,820 z z
Europe3 x 0 15,206 236,320 172,364 z z
Total x 30,973 56,790 277,989 394,184 z z

Notes:

  1. Table uses UNSD geographies
  2. Data are financial year.
  3. Prior to 2021, Europe only included non-EU countries
  4. b. 2020/21 -Following the UKs exit from the EU, GB specific legislation has been introduced and there has been a phasing in of plant health controls. From January 2021 all regulated and notifiable high priority plants and plant products imported from the EU have been subject to plant health controls. Additionally, some commodities have been de-regulated.
  5. x indicates data are not available.
  6. z indicates data are not applicable.

Source: Forestry Commission.

Table 10 shows the number of controlled consignments of hardwood and the volume of material, notified to FC, by region of origin.

  • There has been a yearly increase in the total number of hardwood consignments since 2020/21. This increase was driven by increased consignment numbers from Europe and Asia whilst consignments from North America remained fairly stable across the time period.

  • The volume of notified timber from North America was the only trade flow to show a decrease over the time period (from 83,113m3 in 2020/21 to 49,339m3). In contrast the mass of notified product from North America increased yearly from 2021/22.

  • While hardwood from Europe made up a large percentage of the total mass of notified product in 2023/24 (85%), it was only 43% of total mass in 2024/25, due to both an increase in mass of notified product from North America and a decrease in mass from Europe.

  • Both the number and volume of hardwood consignments from Asia and Europe increased year on year for the last five years. Europe/Asia made up 43% of all hardwood consignments and 47.3% of volume in 2024/25, having only accounted for 10.6% of consignments and 14.2% of volume in 2021/22.

Table 11: Controlled consignments of oak and ash timber, England, Scotland and Wales, 2020/21 to 2024/25

2020/21(b) 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 Value change 2020/21-2024/25 Percentage change 2020/21-2024/25
Number of consignments              
Ash 131 302 736 870 918 787 600.8
Oak 1,003 1,246 963 875 895 -108 -10.8
Total 1,134 1,548 1,699 1,745 1,813 679 59.9
Volume of notified product (m3)              
Ash 4,589 12,405 34,921 39,433 39,337 34,748 757.2
Oak 68,310 38,087 31,543 27,851 29,021 -39,289 -57.5
Total 72,899 50,492 66,464 67,284 68,358 -4,541 -6.2
Mass of notified product (kg)              
Ash x 0 0 0 31 z z
Oak x 5,663 c c c z z
Total x 5,663 c c c z z

Notes:

  1. Data are financial year.
  2. b. 2020/21 -Following the UKs exit from the EU, GB specific legislation has been introduced and there has been a phasing in of plant health controls. From January 2021 all regulated and notifiable high priority plants and plant products imported from the EU have been subject to plant health controls. Additionally, some commodities have been de-regulated.
  3. x indicates data are not available.
  4. z indicates data are not applicable.
  5. c indicates data are confidential and have been supressed.

Source: Forestry Commission.

Ash from all third countries became controlled in 2021, prior to this, ash originating in Canada, China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, Russia, Taiwan, Europe, and the USA was controlled. Oak originating in Canada, China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Russia, Taiwan, Turkey, USA and Vietnam is controlled.

  • The number of controlled consignments of ash and oak timber showed a 59.9% increase from 2020/21 to 2024/25. Throughout the time period the number of ash consignments increased whilst the number of oak consignments decreased and 2024/25 was the first year with more consignments of ash than oak.

  • The volume of ash also increased from 2020/21 to 2023/24, from 4,589m3 to 39,433m3 and remained stable in 2024/25. The volume of oak showed the reverse pattern, decreasing from 1,003m3 in 2020/21 to 875m3 in 2023/24 but remaining fairly stable in 2024/25.

  • Oak and ash timber accounted for a similar proportion of the number and volume of total hardwood timber in 2024/25 (71.2% and 73% respectively). This was a small decrease from 76% of the number of consignments and 73.8% of the volume of total hardwood timber in 2021/22.

Glossary[footnote 14]

Commodity:

A type of plant, plant product, or other article being moved for trade or other purpose [FAO, 1990; revised ICPM, 2001]

Consignment:

A quantity of plants, plant products or other articles being moved from one country to another and covered, when required, by a single phytosanitary certificate (a consignment may be composed of one or more commodities or lots) [FAO, 1990; revised ICPM, 2001]. For PHSI data a consignment is a commodity type declared on a phytosanitary certificate. Some phytosanitary certificates will cover more than one commodity type and so the number of consignments declared will be more than the number of phytosanitary certificates.

Controlled plant products:

Plants and plant commodities which are required to undergo checks for pest and disease on crossing a customs border. For countries within the European Union (EU) this means upon entry to the EU, and this applied to GB trade until the UK exited the EU on 31 December 2020.

Country of origin:

Country where the plants were grown [FAO, 1990; revised CEPM, 1996; CEPM, 1999]

Customs declaration[footnote 15]:

An official document that lists and gives details of goods that are being imported or exported. In legal terms, a customs declaration is the act whereby a person indicates the wish to place goods under a given customs procedure. This legal procedure is described in the Union Customs Code (UCC) (Articles 5 (12) and 158 to 187).

Cut flowers and flower buds:

Cut flowers used for bouquets and decorative purposes.

Exports (HMRC trade data):

The country of destination as declared at the time of export. However, where goods can be traded while in transit (e.g., grain and crude oil), this may not necessarily be the final destination of the goods.

Foliage, branches and other parts of plants:

Branches, leaves and other parts of plants used mainly for decorative purposes.

Food and crops:

Commodities traded for the primary purpose of human consumption.

Forestry:

Timber and wood commodities but not live trees.

Fruit and nuts:

The sweet and fleshy product of a tree or other plant that contains seed and can be eaten as food or a fruit consisting of a hard tough shell around an edible kernel.

Hardwood:

Timber from broadleaved trees.

Imports (HMRC trade data):

The country from which the goods were originally dispatched to the UK without any commercial transaction in any intermediate country (either with or without breaking bulk during transport). This is not necessarily the country of origin, manufacture or the last country from which the goods were shipped to the UK.

Inspection:

Official visual examination of plants, plant products or other regulated articles to determine if pests are present or to determine compliance with phytosanitary regulations [FAO, 1990; revised FAO, 1995; formerly “inspect”].

Non-EU European countries[footnote 16]:

Countries outside of the European Union but geographically part of Europe.

‘Other’ commodities:

Grain, other vegetable products (such as herbs), machinery and vehicles which have been operated for agricultural or forestry purposes.

Phytosanitary certificate:

An official paper document or its official electronic equivalent, consistent with the model certificates of the IPPC, attesting that a consignment meets phytosanitary import requirements [FAO, 1990; revised CPM, 2012]

Plants and plant commodities:

Goods including plants, trees, bulbs, seeds, fruit, vegetables and timber. Commodities are included if they are (1) raw plant products or (2) simply processed, i.e., processed in a manner that would not, in theory, remove the pest and disease risk.

Plants for planting:

Live or dormant plants, bulbs or tubers of plants and trees and cut flowers.

Seed and tissue culture:

Seeds for sowing and plant tissue for propagation.

Simple processing[footnote 17]:

Simple processing can include peeling, grinding, chopping and debarking but excludes cooking, fermenting and preservation in liquid. For further information please see International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures; ISPM No. 32; Categorisation of commodities according to their pest risk (2009).

Softwood:

Timber from coniferous trees.

Vegetable:

A plant or part of a plant used as food, such as a cabbage, potato, turnip, or bean.

  1. Includes raw products and those that can be defined as ‘simply processed’. Please see the glossary at the end of this document and the associated quality and methodology report for more information. ↩

  2. NHS Forest Evidence. ↩

  3. Plant biosecurity strategy for Great Britain (2023-2028). ↩

  4. Plant health legislation for forestry and Plant health controls. ↩

  5. Plant Health is devolved thus Scotland carries out its own plant health inspections. ↩

  6. Information on methodology and quality for HMRC overseas trade data can be accessed at: Overseas trade in goods statistics methodology and quality report ↩

  7. Food Standards Agency - Multi-Annual National Control Plan ↩

  8. New Plant Health rules ↩

  9. The Plant Health (Phytosanitary Conditions) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 ↩

  10. BTOM update, Plant Health Portal ↩

  11. EU emergency control measures by species ↩

  12. Guidance on importing firewood ↩

  13. Guidance on importing or exporting wood packaging material ↩

  14. Some definitions are taken from ISPM 5 Glossary of phytosanitary terms ↩

  15. Union Customs Code ↩

  16. List of non-EU countries ↩

  17. International standards for phytosanitary measures. ISPM No. 32 ↩

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