Latest data released by ONS - 12 March 2021
- Prior -£14.3 billion
- Non-EU trade balance -£1.8 billion vs -£4.9 billion expected
- Prior -£5.2 billion
Slight delay in the release by the source. Amid tighter restrictions and post-Brexit challenges, UK trade was quite severely impacted in January as exports slumped by a whopping 18.3% m/m while imports fell by 22.7% m/m.
A lot of that is captured by a significant drop in trade activity with EU28 nations, highlighting the impact of Brexit on overall trade conditions to start the year.
There is also some impact from stockpiling from October to December in anticipation of post-Brexit conditions, so that might be part of the picture as well.
