UK trade in goods by declared currency of invoice 2022
Published 27 April 2023
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About this release
This release provides the estimates on trade in goods by currency as declared on the invoice, where reported on the Customs system for 2022.
Currency of Invoice Summary
Data received through the administrative Customs system for trade movements between the UK and other countries includes currency of invoice declared. This release reports on the currency declared.
From January 2010, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) was able to report on the currencies used for exports and imports from non-EU countries. In addition to that, from January 2021, HMRC was able to report on the currencies used for exports from GB to EU countries, and from January 2022, GB imports from EU countries as well.
Data is not available on Northern Ireland, (NI) trade with the EU for any period, this is captured under ‘none declared.’
Exports
59% of non-EU export trade value declared the US dollar as the currency of invoice
33% of EU export trade value declared Pound sterling as the currency of invoice
Table 1: Breakdown of currency of invoice for EU and non-EU exports 2022 as a percentage of total value
| Currency | EU exports | Non-EU exports | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| US dollar | 19.4% | 59.0% | 40.9% |
| Pound sterling | 33.3% | 25.5% | 29.1% |
| Euro | 25.1% | 3.9% | 13.6% |
| Chinese yuan | - | 1.5% | 0.8% |
| Swedish krone | 0.5% | - | - |
| Other currencies | 0.6% | 4.0% | 2.6% |
| No currency declared | 21.2% | 6.1% | 13.0% |
| Total trade (£m) | 197,511 | 233,679 | 431,190 |
Table 1: Breakdown for EU and non-EU exports 2022 detailed data (ODS)
Table 1 shows that 41% of the total value of UK exports declared the US dollar as the currency when submitted to HMRC. This was followed by Pound sterling at 29%, Euro at 14% and Chinese yuan at 0.8%. All other currencies accounted for 3% when aggregated together, and 13% had no currency declared.
The US dollar was dominant for non-EU exports at 59%, and Pound sterling ranked second at 25%, while Pound sterling led for EU exports at 33%, with Euro in second place, with 25%.
Detailed data on Standard International Trade Classification (SITC) can be found in the accompanying table:
Percentage of currency of invoice by SITC section for exports 2021-2022.
Source: HM Revenue & Customs Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics. Notes:
- 2022 data is provisional.
- Only data received through the administrative Customs data collection has currency of invoice declared
- ‘None declared’ includes trade reported through separate systems, such as Intrastat and parcel post, and some mineral fuels
- Where a currency does not appear in the top 4 under the relevant trade flow, this indicated by ‘-‘
Table 2: Currency of invoice for non-EU exports as a percentage of total value, 2019-2022
| Year | US dollar | Pound sterling | Euro | Chinese yuan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 44.1% | 36.2% | 3.8% | 1.7% |
| 2020 | 43.0% | 36.0% | 4.3% | 2.0% |
| 2021 | 46.2% | 30.4% | 4.4% | 1.9% |
| 2022 | 59.0% | 25.5% | 3.9% | 1.5% |
Table 2: Non-EU exports as a percentage of total value 2019-2022 detailed data (ODS)
Table 2 shows the recent history of the currencies used for UK exports to non-EU countries.
This table indicates a large increase in US dollar in 2022, while Pound sterling has shown a decline from 2019-2022.
Source: HM Revenue & Customs Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics. Notes:
- 2022 data is provisional.
- Only data received through the administrative Customs data collection has currency of invoice declared
- ‘None declared’ includes trade reported through separate systems, such as Intrastat and parcel post, and some mineral fuels
- Where a currency does not appear in the top 4 under the relevant trade flow, this indicated by ‘-‘
Table 3: Currency of invoice for EU exports as a percentage of total value, 2021-2022
| Year | Pound sterling | Euro | US dollar | Swedish krone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 35.7% | 26.5% | 16.4% | 0.5% |
| 2022 | 33.3% | 25.1% | 19.4% | 0.5% |
Table 3: EU exports as a percentage of total value 2021-2022 detailed data (ODS)
Table 3 shows the recent history of the currencies used for GB exports to EU countries in 2021 and 2022.
The table indicates a small decrease in the use of Pound sterling and the Euro, and an increase in the use of the US dollar. There was no change in the percentage of trade where the Swedish krone was declared.
Detailed data on the top-5 currencies used for exports in 2021 and 2022 can be found in the accompanying table:
Export totals by currency 2021-2022.
Source: HM Revenue & Customs Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics. Notes:
- 2022 data is provisional.
- Only data received through the administrative Customs data collection has currency of invoice declared
- ‘None declared’ includes trade reported through separate systems, such as Intrastat and parcel post, and some mineral fuels
- Where a currency does not appear in the top 4 under the relevant trade flow, this indicated by ‘-‘
Imports
56% of non-EU import trade value declared the US dollar as the currency of invoice
37% of EU import trade value declared Pound sterling as the currency of invoice
Table 4: Breakdown of currency of invoice for EU and non-EU imports 2022 as a percentage of total value
| Currency | EU imports | Non-EU imports | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| US dollar | 14.1% | 56.5% | 36.5% |
| Pound sterling | 36.8% | 20.0% | 27.9% |
| Euro | 36.8% | 3.9% | 19.4% |
| Canadian dollar | - | 2.1% | 1.1% |
| Polish zloty | 0.4% | - | - |
| Other currencies | 0.6% | 2.6% | 1.8% |
| No currency declared | 11.2% | 14.9% | 13.2% |
| Total trade (£m) | 313,645 | 353,189 | 666,834 |
Table 4: Breakdown for EU and non-EU imports 2022 as a percentage of total value detailed data (ODS)
Table 4 shows that 37% of the total value of UK imports declared the US dollar as the currency when submitted to HMRC. This was followed by Pound sterling at 28%, Euro at 19% and Canadian dollar at 1%. All other currencies accounted for 2% when aggregated together, and 13% had no currency declared.
Table 4 shows how this differs across imports from EU and non-EU countries. The US dollar was dominant for non-EU imports, at 57%, while Pound sterling and Euro were equal first for EU imports, at 37%.
Detailed data on Standard International Trade Classification (SITC) can be found in the accompanying table:
Percentage of currency of invoice by SITC section for non-EU imports 2021-2022.
Source: HM Revenue & Customs Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics. Notes:
- 2022 data is provisional.
- Only data received through the administrative Customs data collection has currency of invoice declared
- ‘None declared’ includes trade reported through separate systems, such as Intrastat and parcel post, and some mineral fuels
- Where a currency does not appear in the top 4 under the relevant trade flow, this indicated by ‘-‘
Table 5: Currency of invoice for non-EU imports as a percentage of total value, 2019-2022
| Year | US dollar | Pound sterling | Euro | Canadian dollar |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 66.3% | 17.6% | 4.3% | 2.6% |
| 2020 | 68.1% | 17.6% | 4.1% | 2.8% |
| 2021 | 61.3% | 21.0% | 4.7% | 2.2% |
| 2022 | 56.5% | 20.0% | 3.9% | 2.1% |
Table 5: Non-EU imports as a percentage of total value 2019-2022 detailed data (ODS)
Table 5 shows the recent history of the currencies used for UK imports from non-EU countries.
This table indicates a decrease in the use of the US dollar from 2020 to 2022, while Pound sterling has increased since 2020.
Detailed data on the top-5 currencies used for imports in 2021 and 2022 can be found in the accompanying table:
Non-EU import totals by currency 2021-2022.
Source: HM Revenue & Customs Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics. Notes:
- 2022 data is provisional.
- Data for imports from the EU is only available for 2022, so it has not been included for consistency with previous years
Updates to the 2022 figures as published in the Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics (OTS) release on 13th April 2023 have not been applied to this release due to production lead in times.