Details of the December 2015 UK visible trade balance data report 9 February 2016

  • Prior -10.64bn. Revised to -11.50
  • Non-EU trade bal -2.36bn vs -2.50bn exp. Prior -2.45bn. Revised to -3.54bn
  • Goods & services trade bal -2.71bn vs -3.00bn exp. Prior -3.17bn. Revised to -4.03bn
  • Q4 EU trade bal -23.19bn vs -21.52bn in Q3
  • Q4 global trade bal -32.73bn vs -31.84bn in Q3
  • 2015 global trade bal -125.028bn vs 123.143bn in 2014
  • Exports -1.1& vs +0.6% prior
  • Imports -3.0% vs -3.3% prior m/m

Better headline, worse revisions. A lot of the better headline number is being put down to the drop in oil prices but analysts are worried that the Q4 increase in the global trade balance is going to hamper the Q4 revisions

UK visible trade balance