HMRC published customs and trade statistics in a new experimental report. It's another reminder for traders: How do you prepare for future UK trade? Is your import and export filing sorted?
The new experimental statistics released by HMRC in the report “UK trade in goods statistics by business characteristics 2016" offer expanded analyses showing overseas trade numbers by business characteristics, including information about the businesses trading in such goods broken down by industry group, age of business, and size of business (number of employees). A good reminder for traders to prepare for future trade amidst current developments under Brexit.
The report finds that in 2016, there were 147,000 businesses in the UK exporting goods, with a total employee count of 9.7 million. On the import side, there were 227,000 importing businesses in the UK with a total employee count of 12.6 million in the same time frame.
>> Access the full HMRC report online
The majority of UK businesses engaged in international trade in goods were at least ten years old (63% of exporters and 57% of importers, excluding those where age is unknown). These businesses accounted for 85% of the value of UK goods exports and 83% of imports.
In 2016, the average number of employees per trading business remained approximately the same as in 2015, following a decrease between 2014 and 2015.
To provide the data for this new report, HMRC linked the overseas trade statistics (OTS) trade-in-goods data with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) business statistics sourced from the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR). The linked data provides additional information about the types of business carrying out international trade, such as their industry group, age, and size. These statistics are currently labeled as experimental in order to
The analysis is presented in four sections:
Smooth trade depends on efficient border crossings - before and after Brexit:
