UK trade in goods by declared currency of invoice 2023: commentary
Published 26 April 2024
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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 2023.
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 used.
From January 2010, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) was able to report on the currencies used for exports and imports from non-EU countries. From January 2021, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) was able to report on the currencies used for UK imports from non-EU countries, and for GB (England, Scotland and Wales) exports to EU member states. In addition to that, from 1 January 2022, HMRC was able to report on the currencies used for all UK trade with non-EU countries, and for all GB trade with EU member states. Data is not available on Northern Ireland (NI) trade with the EU for any period, this is captured under ‘no currency declared.’
Exports
33% of the value of UK exports to EU countries declared Pound sterling as the currency of invoice
56% of the value of UK exports to non-EU countries declared the US dollar as the currency of invoice
Table 1: Breakdown of currency of invoice for UK exports to EU and non-EU countries in 2023 as a percentage of total value
Table 1 shows that 39.7% 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 29.6%, Euro at 14.4% and Chinese yuan at 0.9%. All other currencies accounted for 2.6% when aggregated together, and 12.8% had no currency declared.
The US dollar dominated for exports to non-EU countries, while Pound sterling led for exports to EU countries, with Euro in second place.
| Currency | Exports to EU | Exports to non-EU | Total exports |
|---|---|---|---|
| US dollar | 18.7% | 56.5% | 39.7% |
| Pound sterling | 33.0% | 26.9% | 29.6% |
| Euro | 27.0% | 4.4% | 14.4% |
| Chinese yuan | x | 1.6% | 0.9% |
| Swedish krone | 0.4% | x | x |
| Other currencies | 0.6% | 3.8% | 2.6% |
| No currency declared | 20.3% | 6.9% | 12.8% |
| Total | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| Total exports (£ million) | 185,707 | 233,276 | 418,983 |
Download detailed data on Standard International Trade Classification (SITC) in the percentage of currency of invoice for exports 2022 to 2023 (ODS 11.5KB).
Source: Overseas trade in goods statistics from HM Revenue & Customs
Notes:
- 2023 data is provisional
- Only data received through the administrative Customs data collection has currency of invoice declared
- ‘No currency 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 is indicated by ‘x‘
- The figures in this release exclude non-response estimates and therefore will not match other published figures
Table 2: Top 4 currencies of invoice for UK exports to non-EU countries as a percentage of total value, 2020 to 2023
Table 2 shows the recent history of the top 4 currencies used for UK exports to non-EU countries.
This table indicates a decrease in US dollar in 2023, after a large increase from 2020 to 2022. Pound sterling increased in 2023, after a decline from 2020 to 2022.
| Year | US dollar | Pound sterling | Euro | Chinese yuan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 43.0% | 36.0% | 4.3% | 2.0% |
| 2021 | 46.2% | 30.4% | 4.4% | 1.9% |
| 2022 | 58.4% | 25.2% | 3.9% | 1.5% |
| 2023 | 56.5% | 26.9% | 4.4% | 1.6% |
Source: Overseas trade in goods statistics from HM Revenue & Customs
Notes:
- 2023 data is provisional
- Only data received through the administrative Customs data collection has currency of invoice declared
- The percentages do not add to 100% as they do not include other currencies or where no currency is declared
Table 3: Top 4 currencies of invoice for UK exports to EU countries as a percentage of total value, 2021 to 2023
Table 3 shows the recent history of the top 4 currencies used for UK exports to EU countries from 2021 to 2023.
This table indicates a small decrease in the use of Pound sterling, while the Euro recovered after a decrease. There was a decrease in the use of the US dollar in 2023, after an increase in 2022. There was little change in the percentage of trade where the Swedish krone was declared.
| Year | Pound sterling | Euro | US dollar | Swedish krone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 35.7% | 26.5% | 16.4% | 0.5% |
| 2022 | 33.3% | 25.1% | 19.3% | 0.5% |
| 2023 | 33.0% | 27.0% | 18.7% | 0.4% |
Download detailed data for export totals by currency 2022 to 2023 (ODS 10KB).
Source: Overseas trade in goods statistics from HM Revenue & Customs
Notes:
- 2023 data is provisional
- Only data received through the administrative Customs data collection has currency of invoice declared
- 2020 data for UK exports to EU was not available as data was collected via Intrastat
- The percentages do not add to 100% as they do not include other currencies or where no currency is declared
Imports
36% of the value of UK imports from EU countries declared Euro as the currency of invoice
58% of the value of UK imports from non-EU countries declared the US dollar as the currency of invoice
Table 4: Breakdown of currency of invoice for UK imports from EU and non-EU countries in 2023 as a percentage of total value
Table 4 shows that 35.1% 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 27.2%, Euro at 19.7% and Canadian dollar at 0.7%. All other currencies accounted for 1.9% when aggregated together, and 15.4% had no currency declared.
The US dollar dominated for imports from non-EU countries, while Pound sterling was slightly ahead of Euro for EU imports, with US dollar in third place.
| Currency | Imports from EU | Imports from non-EU | Total imports |
|---|---|---|---|
| US dollar | 13.1% | 58.2% | 35.1% |
| Pound sterling | 35.8% | 18.2% | 27.2% |
| Euro | 34.3% | 4.3% | 19.7% |
| Canadian dollar | x | 1.5% | 0.7% |
| Polish zloty | 0.4% | x | x |
| Other currencies | 0.6% | 2.8% | 1.9% |
| No currency declared | 15.8% | 15.0% | 15.4% |
| Total | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| Total imports (£ million) | 325,964 | 310,737 | 636,701 |
Download detailed data on Standard International Trade Classification (SITC) in the percentage of currency of invoice for imports 2022 to 2023 (ODS 11.3KB).
Source: Overseas trade in goods statistics from HM Revenue & Customs
Notes:
- 2023 data is provisional
- Only data received through the administrative Customs data collection has currency of invoice declared
- ‘No currency 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 ‘x‘
- The figures in this release exclude non-response estimates and therefore will not match other published figures
Table 5: Top 4 currencies of invoice for UK imports from non-EU countries as a percentage of total value, 2020 to 2023
Table 5 shows the recent history of the top 4 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, recovering in 2023, while the use of Pound sterling has shown two years of decrease since 2021, after a sharp rise.
| Year | US dollar | Pound sterling | Euro | Canadian dollar |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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% |
| 2023 | 58.2% | 18.2% | 4.3% | 1.5% |
Source: Overseas trade in goods statistics from HM Revenue & Customs
Notes:
- 2023 data is provisional
- Only data received through the administrative Customs data collection has currency of invoice declared
- The percentages do not add to 100% as they do not include other currencies or where no currency is declared
Table 6: Top 4 currencies of invoice for UK imports from EU countries as a percentage of total value, 2022 to 2023
Table 6 shows the recent history of the top 4 currencies used for UK imports from EU countries from 2022 to 2023.
This table indicates a decrease in the use of the Euro and Pound sterling from 2022 to 2023, while the US dollar has shown an increase since 2022.
| Year | Euro | Pound sterling | US dollar | Polish zloty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 36.9% | 36.8% | 14.1% | 0.4% |
| 2023 | 34.3% | 35.8% | 13.1% | 0.4% |
Download detailed data for import totals by currency, 2022 to 2023 (ODS 10KB).
Source: Overseas trade in goods statistics from HM Revenue & Customs
Notes:
- 2023 data is provisional
- Only data received through the administrative Customs data collection has currency of invoice declared
- 2020 and 2021 data for UK imports from EU was not available as data was collected via Intrastat
- The percentages do not add to 100% as they do not include other currencies or where no currency is declared
Updates to the 2023 figures as published in the Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics (OTS) release on 12th April 2024 have not been applied to this release due to production lead in times.