Official Statistics

Business characteristics guidance notes

Published 30 November 2023

General notes

Official statistics in development

Official statistics in development are official statistics that are undergoing further refinement. They were formerly known as “experimental statistics”. They may be new or existing statistics, and will be tested with users, in line with the Government Statistical Service (GSS) Code of Practice for Statistics standards covering:

• Trustworthiness
• Quality
• Value

To do this we use the same processes used in the production of the Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics (OTS). Assessed in 2010 the OTS is an accredited official statistic that is published monthly.

Our data is derived from the high-quality datasets that underpin the OTS which undergo regular extensive validation procedures.

UK Trade in Goods by Business Characteristics is compiled to serve the needs of many users, including:

• Governments
• Business community
• Compilers of other economic statistics
• Various regional and international organisations
• Researchers
• The public

These statistics are also used for:

• Press queries
• Parliamentary Questions
• Freedom of Information requests
• Other Government Departments who rely on HMRC’s data to inform evidence-based policies

After several years in consultation with users, these statistics remain in development. This is due to changes in data sources as a result of the UK’s exit from the EU. We will continue to develop these statistics for 2023 data in the 2024 release. We will then appraise this for an “official statistics in development” label removal.

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.

More information on how HMRC statistics reflect the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics is available from the Overseas trade in goods statistics methodology and quality report.

You are welcome to contact us directly by emailing uktradeinfo@hmrc.gov.uk with any comments about how we meet these standards.

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

More information can be seen on OSR’s information on Official Statistics in Development.

Data sources

The Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics (OTS) has been combined with the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR). The OTS is from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) data. The IDBR is from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The OTS shows the UK’s international trade in goods. Data breakdowns are shown by partner country and commodity. More information can be found in the Methodology paper for Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics

The IDBR is a list of UK businesses. These are used by Government for statistical purposes. More information can be found on the ONS information page for the Inter-Departmental Business Register

Methodology

Since the release of the 2021 data, data source changes have affected the methodology for producing these statistics.

In 2021, the Intrastat survey was retained for data purposes for UK imports from the EU above the Intrastat threshold. However, VAT returns only captured information on Northern Ireland (NI) trade with the EU. This meant that there was no data on trade below the Intrastat threshold for GB imports from the EU.

It was therefore not possible to accurately produce business characteristics for UK imports from the EU for 2021. These statistics were consequently excluded from the 2021 data. Only the non-EU portion of import statistics were compiled.

From 2022, data on GB imports from the EU is sourced from Customs declarations. Data on NI imports from the EU remained as collected through the Intrastat Survey, and through VAT returns for traders below the Intrastat threshold.

This enabled a full imports dataset for 2022 data. However, comparisons with previous annual datasets should not be made due to these data source issues outlined above.

For exports, the timeseries break occurred between 2020 and 2021. Therefore, comparisons can be made between 2021 and 2022 data. However, comparisons should not be made between 2022 data and data for periods prior to 2021.

The OTS-IDBR data matching process

The VAT number of each business within the OTS data is linked to an enterprise on the IDBR.

If a match is not found, then a ‘fuzzy matching’ process on the name is attempted. The remaining unmatched VAT numbers are given an industry group by searching for matches in HMRC VAT records. Their business size and age are recorded as ‘Unknown’. A unique industry group is assigned to each business for all EU and non-EU imports and exports.

The attributes of an enterprise are assessed before it is chosen. This is because there are several that could be chosen where VAT registrations cover a group of businesses. The assessment is made through the following measures:

Step 1: At the first level of assessment, the enterprises with the largest turnover are chosen.

Step 2: If there are multiple enterprises with the same turnover then we select the enterprise with the highest employee count.

Step 3: If multiple enterprises have the same employee count then we select the enterprise with the earliest birthdate.

Step 4: If multiple enterprises have the same birthdate, then we select the enterprise linked to the 12-digit VAT registration with the earliest birthdate.

We make the assumption that trade is more likely to be carried out by businesses with the highest turnover and employee count. We also assume that older businesses are more likely to carry out trade as they are more established.

Comparison with other HMRC publications

Comparison with OTS publication:

The trade value totals do not match the OTS for two reasons. Both reasons relate to EU trade.

1. Data in this publication does not include non-response estimates. The OTS does.

2. The contribution of traders below the Intrastat threshold for EU trade has been recalculated on a per trader basis. It has not been allocated to individual EU countries. This method closely replicates the one used for the estimation of below threshold trade in the OTS. However, timing and other methodological differences mean there is not an exact match.

Comparison with Customs importer and exporter population 2022 release:

Data in this release will not match the HMRC Customs importer and exporter publication. This is due to the different data sources and production methods used for these publications. 

Source data for this publication is the Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics: 

• this is a statistical dataset covering the UK’s international trade in goods at country and product level 
• it excludes low value trade in goods below £873 and 1,000kg net mass 
• counts business at ‘enterprise’ level 

Source data for the Customs importer and exporter publication is the Customs declarations: 

• this is an administrative dataset covering movements between Great Britain and the European Union, and United Kingdom and non-EU countries 
• declarations are taken from CHIEF (Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight) and CDS (Customs Declaration Service) 
• it includes low value trade 
• counts businesses at ‘Economic Operator Registration and Identification’ (EORI) level

Comparison with the HMRC UK regional trade in goods statistics (RTS) releases:

Data in this release will not match the published RTS data. This is due to different production methods:

• this release counts businesses at the level of ‘enterprise’. The RTS counts at the level of ‘VAT-registration’
• this release includes all UK trade in goods. The RTS excludes trade in non-monetary gold
• additionally, methods for estimating EU trade below the Intrastat threshold differ

Other statistics available on the characteristics of UK exporters and importers:

ONS Annual Business Survey results

ONS UK trade in goods by business characteristics

Data measures

Trade value

Trade value is the statistical value of trade in goods in GBP (£).

Business count

All businesses are included in counts for trade with the EU as a whole.

However, the counts of importers/exporters from/to specific EU countries do not include those with trade below the Intrastat threshold.

This is because the EU partner data is not collected for these businesses.

In 2022, the Intrastat threshold was set at £500,000 for EU imports (NI imports from EU) and £250,000 for EU exports (NI exports to EU).

Employee count

The employee count is the total number of employees for a business. Users should note that employee count includes employees who are not directly involved in trade.

Suppressions (data tables)

The statistics in this release require active disclosure control. This has been applied by suppressing data. Data has been suppressed using HMRC suppression rules in line with Government Statistical Service (GSS) guidance.

Where the data has been suppressed, additional suppressions (masks) have been used making it impossible to calculate the contents of suppressed cells. All suppressed cells are shown with a “Suppressed”.

Data categories

Industry groups 1-10

The industry groups in this release are derived from the UK Standard Industrial Classification 2007 (SIC).

The industry group is the main activity of a business. Businesses trade in their main activity but may also trade in goods outside of this classification. The data in this release includes all traded goods.

Industry group to SIC correlation table

Industry Group	SIC codes included
Group 1 Agriculture and food	01-03, 10-17
Group 2 Mining, petroleum products and waste	05-09, 19, 24, 35-39
Group 3 Chemicals	20
Group 4 Pharmaceuticals	21
Group 5 Electronic and electrical equipment	26, 27
Group 6 Machinery and equipment n.e.s	28
Group 7 Motor vehicles, transport equipment (excluding aerospace)	29, 301, 302, 304, 309
Group 8 Aerospace and related machinery	303
Group 9 Other manufacturing	18, 22, 23, 25, 31, 32
Group 10 Services	33, 41-43, 45-47, 49-53, 55,56, 58-66, 68-75, 77-82, 84-88, 90-99

Group 1 includes Clothing. This note acts to highlight Group 1’s agricultural component, which can include textile produce.

Group 7 excludes aerospace.

Group 10 includes only those businesses in the Services industry that trade in goods. The data provides the value of goods, business counts and employee counts for these businesses. It does not provide data on the value of services from these businesses. The business counts and employee counts do not include services industry businesses that do not trade in goods.

SIC codes 04, 34, 40, 48, 54, 57, 67, 76, 83, 89 do not currently exist

Business size

Business size is based on the total number of employees within a business.  

This release has the following business size categories:

• zero employees - examples include sole traders and partnerships. 
• 1-9, 10-49, or 50-249 employees - these are collectively known as Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). 
• over 250 employees - these are known as Large businesses.

Age of business

The age of a business is determined by the birth date and death date of the enterprise, and not the underlying VAT-registered business.  This maintains consistency within the data; Each business will always have the same birth date and death date for all EU and non-EU imports and exports.

This release has the following age categories (in years):

 0-1, 2-3, 4-5, 6-9, 10-20, 20+

Unknown category

Unknown Industry group / size / age:

A business may be classified within the ‘Unknown’ category for industry group, business size, or age group for the following reasons:

• where the trading VAT/EORI number is invalid
• businesses for which IDBR data is unavailable
• businesses in the Channel Islands and Isle of Man or overseas-based businesses with a VAT presence in the UK

The UK Government is placed in the Unknown category for employee count. However, it is categorised under the ‘250+’ group for business size.

Unknown trade value:

The following trade by a business may be classified within ‘Unknown’:

• parcel post trade that is dealt with centrally (trade with non-EU only). This is placed in the Unknown category for industry group, business size and age group
• EU trade in oil and gas that cannot be linked to a VAT number. This is placed in the Unknown category for business size and age group. The industry group is estimated from HMRC records on businesses trading similar goods

Users should be aware that declared trade lines of less than £873 and 1,000kg are below the statistical threshold. They are included as part of ‘low value trade’.

Business characteristics are not able to be produced for low value trade. There is no business specific data for this trade.

Partner countries (data tables)

Data for specific partner countries is available. These countries have been selected based on their status as the top EU and non-EU partner countries for the UK based on value of trade.

EU countries:

Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden.

Non-EU countries:

Algeria, Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, UAE, USA, Vietnam.

These geographical groups are also provided:

EU (all EU partner countries combined), non-EU (all non-EU partner countries combined), World (all countries combined).

Definitions

Business

For the purpose of this release, the term “business” is used to represent an enterprise. An enterprise is the combination of legal units that produces goods and/or services and makes its own decisions on business activity. This is particularly true for decisions on where to place its capital. An enterprise carries out one or more activities at one or more locations. An enterprise may be a sole legal unit.

The IDBR record of business characteristics such as industry group, size, and age is at the level of an enterprise. The business counts published in this release are counts of enterprises. The figures for value of trade are from trade declared to HMRC at the level of VAT-registered or EORI-registered businesses.

Economic Operator Registration and Identification (EORI)

EORI stands for ‘Economic Operator Registration and Identification’. HMRC gives these numbers to some UK businesses. This allows them to trade with non-EU countries.