Trade in Goods

Trends in the value of exports from the North East region, including commodity and market information and comparisons with imports

International trade
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Introduction

The key source of information about regional trade in goods is a quarterly statistical release from HMRC. It provides detailed information about the value of exports and imports of goods from and to the 12 ITL1 areas within the UK. The North East ITL1 area includes the North East and Tees Valley Mayoral Combined Authority areas.

The release includes information about the values of exports and imports by commodity and about the markets and sources of the goods across the world. Some of the quarterly trends are complicated by one-off, high value trading, so HMRC presents a lot of the information as four quarter totals in the release.

Even four quarter totals for individual markets and commodities show volatility over time, so the charts on this page include some aggregations of both. For further analysis, the HMRC site includes a tool that allows users to produce a customised regional trade data table.

The latest release included trade up to and including the third quarter of 2024 and was released in December 2024. The next release will cover the 2024 calendar year and is due to released on 20th March 2025.


North East goods exports

£14.1 bn

Four quarter total value

Oct 2023-Sep 2024
5.4% of England's total
Q3 2024 total: £3.5 bn

£8,400

Rate per working age resident

third highest among the
nine English regions.
England rate: £7,100 ph

+4.8%

Change in latest year

highest among the
nine English regions.
England change: -4.5%

+7.3%

Change over five years

fourth lowest among
the nine English regions.
England change: +3.6%


Commodities

£7.6 bn

Machinery & transport equipment

54% of North East total
Q4 2023-Q3 2024
up 3.2% in latest year
road vehicles: £4.2 bn
 

£3.0 bn

Chemicals & related products

21% of North East total
Q4 2023-Q3 2024
up 3.1% in latest year
medicinal & pharmaceutical: £0.9 bn

£2.1 bn

Goods classified by material

15% of North East total
Q4 2023-Q3 2024
up 21% in latest year
non-ferrous metal goods: £1.0 bn

High growth commodities in the last decade

road vehicles: +£0.8 bn
non-ferrous metal goods: +£0.6 bn
medicinal & pharmaceutical: +£0.5 bn
power generating machinery: +£0.4 bn


Markets

£7.8 bn

EU nations

55% of North East total
Q4 2023-Q3 2024
up 1.9% in latest year
Netherlands £1.3 bn, Germany £1.2 bn

£2.0 bn

United States

14% of North East total
Q4 2023-Q3 2024
highest total of any nation
up 18% in latest year

£0.6 bn

China and Hong Kong

4.1% of North East total
Q4 2023-Q3 2024
highest non-Europe total, excl. USA
up 37% in latest year

 

High growth markets in the last decade

United States: +£0.75 bn
Italy: +£0.35 bn
Australia & New Zealand: +£0.18 bn
Spain: +£0.17 bn


Goods imports

£15.7 bn

Four quarter total import value

Oct 2023-Sep 2024
1.5% lower than a year earlier
5.9% higher than five years earlier

-£1.7 bn

Deficit (export value less import value)

35% lower than a year earlier
47% lower than two years earlier
latest surplus was in 2014/15

40%

Machinery and transport equipment

% of North East imports of goods
chemicals & related: 16.5%, same as
manufactured goods classified by material
 

53%

From EU nations

25% from Asia and Oceania
including 11% from China
and 8% from Japan


Further analysis

The evidence hub includes an international trade source page which links to data reports about all aspects of this topic. The quarterly national release is available on the HMRC website alongside a interactive tool for custonising trade data downloads.

Regional Trade data releases

The section of the HMRC website which includes data and commentary on the UK's international trade in goods at summary and product level, by UK regions and devolved administrations.

Build a regional trade data table

A section of the HMRC website where users can create their own customised regional custom trade data table. 

International trade hub home page

The landing page within the evidence hub that contains links to data reports and other information about international trade.