UK trade gap largest in eight months

The UK trade deficit widened to £4.82 billion in October 2025, up from £1.09 billion in September, marking the largest gap since February.

Exports fell 0.3% month-on-month to a four-month low of £77.00 billion, while imports rose 4.5% to a seven-month high of £81.82 billion.

Goods exports to the EU rose 1.7%, primarily due to higher exports of machinery and transport equipment, including mechanical power generators to Spain.

Meanwhile, shipments to non-EU countries grew 8.6%, largely driven by higher exports of chemicals and machinery & transport equipment, including cars to the US and Japan.

Exports of goods to the US, including precious metals, jumped 27.0% in October, following two consecutive monthly declines.

Services exports edged up 0.1% to £46.04 billion.

On the import side, goods imports rose 5.8% to an eight-month high of £53.51 billion, while services imports increased 0.4% to a four-month high of £28.32 billion.