Northern Ireland Economic Trade Statistics 2023
Northern Ireland Economic Trade Statistics 2023
Date Published: 11 December 2024
Geographical Area: Northern Ireland
Theme: Economy
Frequency:
Annual
Key Points
The latest estimates of local businesses’ trade with markets inside and outside Northern Ireland for 2023 are presented within this release. All values are in current prices and relate to the sales and purchases of both goods and services.
In 2023, total sales by businesses in Northern Ireland (NI) were estimated to be worth £97.6 billion.
Sales within NI amounted to £64.3 billion, accounting for 65.9% of total sales.
The remainder of sales were fairly evenly split between those to GB (£17.1 billion) and sales to markets outside the UK (i.e. exports) of £16.2 billion, accounting for 17.5% and 16.6% of total sales respectively in 2023.
Total sales of goods were estimated to be worth £65.9 billion in 2023, an increase of 12.6% (£7.4 billion) over the year. Total sales of goods represented 67.5% of total sales in 2023.
Sales of services represented 32.5% of total sales in 2023 and were estimated to be worth £31.7 billion, an increase of 10.9% over the year (£3.1 billion).
Total purchases by NI businesses were estimated to be £62.0 billion in 2023.
Purchases within NI amounted to £35.4 billion, accounting for 57.0% of total purchases.
Total purchases of goods were estimated to be worth £49.4 billion, an increase of 7.6% (£3.5 billion) over the year. Total purchases of goods represented 79.6% of total purchases in 2023.
Purchases of services represented 20.4% of total purchases in 2023 and were estimated to be worth £12.7 billion, an increase of 13.0%.
In terms of the balance of trade, NI businesses exported more goods and services (£16.2 billion) than they imported (£10.5 billion), resulting in a trade surplus of £5.7 billion.
These statistics were accredited
as National Statistics in March 2022 following a full
assessment of the Broad Economy Sales and Exports Statistics (the
former name of the NIETS series) against the Code of Practice for
statistics. National Statistics are accredited
official statistics. This means that our statistics meet the highest
standards of trustworthiness, quality, and public value, and it is our
responsibility to maintain compliance with these standards.
Since the assessment by the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA), we have continued to comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics, and seek to continue with the development and improvement of the BESES series.
Users should refer to the Northern Ireland Broad Economy Sales and Exports Statistics Development Plan for further information on recent developments.
Users should be aware that whilst we have changed the name of this publication to better reflect the content, the statistics are those that were assessed by the UKSA.
Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.
You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.
1 Introduction and Context
This release contains revised 2022 and provisional 2023 results from the Northern Ireland Economic Trade Statistics (NIETS). The NIETS is a survey-based measure of businesses’ trade with markets outside Northern Ireland (external sales) across the non-financial business sector. This measure includes both the sale and purchase of goods and services to and from countries outside the United Kingdom (exports and imports), to and from Great Britain (GB), as well as those within Northern Ireland (NI). Data is captured through the Northern Ireland Annual Business Inquiry (ABI), which is a survey of businesses covering the Production, Construction, Distribution and Service industries plus an element of Agriculture, and covers roughly two thirds of the total NI economy. Public sector bodies are excluded from the survey.
Definitions used in this publication
Turnover (also referred to as total sales) is defined as total sales and work done. This is calculated by adding the value of sales of goods produced, goods purchased and resold without further processing, work done and industrial and non-industrial services rendered. Total sales is equal to the sum of all sales to Northern Ireland (NI), Great Britain (GB), Ireland (IE), the Rest of the European Union (REU) and the Rest of the World (ROW).
External Sales are comprised of those sales made outside Northern Ireland, that is, sales to Great Britain, Ireland, the Rest of the European Union and the Rest of the World.
Exports are defined as all sales outside the United Kingdom.
Total purchases are defined as the sum of all purchases from Northern Ireland (NI), Great Britain (GB), Ireland (IE), the Rest of the European Union (REU) and the Rest of the World (ROW). Total purchases include all non-deductible VAT. In the case of imports the cost includes import and excise duties.
Imports consist of all purchases made from outside the United Kingdom.
An appropriate set of deflators to produce inflation-adjusted data does not exist. Therefore, all values are presented in current prices.
The Rest of the EU (REU) is composed of the following countries: Germany; France; Belgium; Luxembourg; Netherlands; Italy; Denmark; Portugal; Spain; Greece; Austria; Sweden; Finland, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Slovenia (Croatia joined the EU in July 2013 and is included in the 2014 reporting period).
The Rest of the World (ROW) refers to all other destinations outside the EU, GB and NI.
Goods refers to specific, tangible products.
Services refers to intangible products.
Broad Economy: The information needed to produce the NI Economic Trade Statistics (NIETS) is collected via the NI Annual Business Inquiry (NIABI). Like the NIABI, the NIETS results are classified according to the Standard Industrial Classification of Economic Activities (SIC) system. The SIC 2007 sections covered by the NIABI defines the term ‘Broad Economy’ and are as follows:
A. Agriculture (support activities), forestry and fishing
B.
Mining and quarrying
C. Manufacturing
D. Electricity, gas,
steam and air conditioning supply
E. Water supply, sewerage, waste
management and remediation activities
F. Construction
G.
Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motor cycles
(Distribution industries)
H. Transport and storage
I.
Accommodation and food service activities
J. Information and
communication
L. Real estate activities
M. Professional,
scientific and technical activities
N. Administrative and support
service activities
P. Education (excludes local authority and
central government bodies)
Q. Human health and social work
activities (excludes local authority and central government, and medical
and dental practice activities (group 86.2))
R. Arts, entertainment
and recreation
S. Other service activities
Users should refer to the document “Background information - Northern Ireland Economic Trade Statistics” for further detail on survey coverage and definitions.
Trade balance is defined as the difference between the value of exports and the value of imports, or:
\[\text{trade balance=value of exports-value of imports}\]
Effect of inflation on trade
Where a large change in trade is recorded over the year, it is normal practice to query the data with businesses. In many cases, the changes in trade over the years 2021 to 2022 and 2022 to 2023 were explained by increasing prices. An appropriate set of deflators to produce inflation-adjusted data does not exist and it is not possible at this point to isolate the effects of inflation in this data.
Figure 1 below presents a 10-year time-series of The Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs (CPIH), as published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The spike in core CPIH that developed from early 2021 is clear to see and still remains above the levels seen in 2020, prior to the spike. Users should bear in mind that this is the “All Items” series and is composed of multiple product groups, each with their own individual price index.
Figure 1: CPIH Annual Rate: All Items (2015 = 100, October 2014 - October 2024)
Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS)
NISRA Data Portal
To support this release, further sectoral and geographic data is available via the new NISRA data portal.
NISRA Data Visualisation Hub
NISRA have launched a new webpage that will act as a gateway to all NISRA created visualisations, including the NIETS, making it easier for users to find our interactive content. Over the coming months this webpage will link to more interactive dashboards and area profiles to display Northern Ireland data.
For Further Information
Further information on the NIETS can be accessed on the NISRA website.
2 NI Trade - Summary
2.1 Trade by Trade Partner, 2023
Figures 2 and 3 show the value of sales and purchases to and from each trade partner and how they contribute to total sales of £97.6bn and total purchases of £62.0bn in 2023.
For both sales and purchases the trends were fairly similar. Northern Ireland (NI) remained our largest market (ie: internal trade), followed by trade with Great Britain (GB).
Ireland (IE) is NI’s single largest export and import partner. Germany is the top export partner within the Rest of the EU (REU) while the USA is NI’s top export partner within the Rest of the World (ROW).
Figure 2: Sales and Exports by Trade Partner
Figure 3: Purchases and Imports by Trade Partner
Note: No purchases data is currently available at individual REU or ROW country level.
2.2 Trade of Goods and Services by Trade Partner, 2023
Table 1 and 2 shows the value of sales and purchases of goods and services to and from each trade partner and how they contribute to total sales of £97.6bn and total purchases of £62.0bn in 2023.
For both sales and purchases the trends were fairly similar. NI remained our largest trade market, followed by GB.
All destinations showed an increase in total sales and total purchases over the year, with the exception of ROW imports, which fell by 4.6%, driven by a fall in both imports of goods (3.7%) and imports of services (12.7%).
The vast majority of trade was trade in goods no matter the trade partner, and, in general, larger amounts of trade occurred with partners closer to NI, compared to more distant partners.
Table 1: Sales and Exports by Trade Partner
| Trade Partner | Total (£m) | Annual Change (%) | Goods (£m) | Annual Change (%) | Services (£m) | Annual Change (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Sales | 97,563 | +12.1 | 65,880 | +12.6 | 31,683 | +10.9 |
| NI Sales | 64,271 | +10.3 | 42,580 | +11.3 | 21,690 | + 8.4 |
| GB Sales | 17,122 | +12.4 | 11,599 | +15.9 | 5,523 | + 5.7 |
| IE Exports | 8,660 | +17.6 | 6,532 | +15.1 | 2,128 | +25.9 |
| REU Exports | 2,618 | +19.6 | 1,840 | + 4.9 | 778 | +78.8 |
| ROW Exports | 4,892 | +22.9 | 3,328 | +19.7 | 1,564 | +30.5 |
| External Sales | 33,292 | +15.7 | 23,299 | +15.2 | 9,993 | +16.9 |
| Total Exports | 16,170 | +19.5 | 11,700 | +14.6 | 4,470 | +34.5 |
Table 2: Purchases and Imports by Trade Partner
| Trade Partner | Total (£m) | Annual Change (%) | Goods (£m) | Annual Change (%) | Services (£m) | Annual Change (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Purchases | 62,033 | + 8.7 | 49,360 | + 7.6 | 12,673 | + 13.0 |
| NI Purchases | 35,368 | + 5.6 | 26,521 | + 4.8 | 8,846 | + 8.3 |
| GB Purchases | 16,204 | +16.2 | 13,443 | +13.1 | 2,761 | + 34.6 |
| IE Imports | 3,752 | +13.9 | 3,299 | +14.2 | 453 | + 11.8 |
| REU Imports | 3,465 | +17.4 | 3,164 | +16.4 | 301 | + 28.6 |
| ROW Imports | 3,245 | -4.6 | 2,932 | -3.7 | 312 | -12.7 |
| External Purchases | 26,665 | +13.0 | 22,839 | +11.2 | 3,827 | + 25.6 |
| Total Imports | 10,461 | + 8.4 | 9,396 | + 8.6 | 1,066 | + 6.9 |
2.3 Trade Performance Over Time
Figures 4 and 5 shows the value of Trade with Trade Partners over the 12-year period (2011 to 2023).
The downturn in total sales and purchases in 2020 and the concomitant effect on trade with each trade partner can be seen clearly. The vast majority of businesses reported that the decrease in total trade in 2020 was as a result of the impact of COVID-19 on business operations. Similarly, the changes in trade over the year 2020 to 2021 were explained by a recovery from the economic effects of the pandemic. That recovery continued into 2022. Levels continued to rise into 2023 with many businesses reporting that increased pricing was behind much of the rise. GB sales were at their highest on survey record whilst total sales and purchases, sales and purchases within NI and trade with IE were at their highest levels on survey record for the third year running.
Prior to 2020, and with the exception of the period 2016 to 2017, total sales and total purchases have consistently grown annually, although at varying rates. In 2016 to 2017, total sales experienced negative growth for the first time in the time series - this was mainly driven by the first recorded decrease in GB sales. GB sales continued to experience negative growth in 2017 to 2018, albeit at a reduced rate compared to 2016 to 2017. GB sales returned to positive growth over 2018 to 2019 and GB was the only destination with sales growth in 2019 to 2020 and has continued to grow annually up to 2023.
Figure 4: Sales and Exports by trade partner
Figure 5: Purchases and imports by trade partner*
* Data for NI and GB purchases are only available from survey year 2013 onwards
3 Summary and Commentary - Trade Balance
Trade balance is defined as the difference between the value of exports and the value of imports and, in this case, is the NI trade balance as measured by the NIETS. Users are reminded that the NIETS does not capture trade in the public sector; the financial and insurance sectors; and the vast majority of agriculture (users should refer to the notes on coverage in the NIETS Background Information for more detail). Users should also bear in mind the following from the Eurostat guidance:
“If exports exceed imports then the country has a trade surplus and the trade balance is said to be positive. If imports exceed exports, the country or area has a trade deficit and its trade balance is said to be negative. However, the words ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ have only a numerical meaning and do not necessarily reflect whether the economy of a country or area is performing well or not.”
3.1 Trade in Goods and Services and Trade Balance over Time
Figure 6 below shows the time-series for the value of exports, the value of imports and the value of the trade balance for goods and services combined, as well as the value of each of goods and services. The exports of goods and exports of services have consistently been greater than their import equivalent, thus the balance of trade for each of goods and services has remained positive for each year on survey record.
Figure 6: Exports, Imports and Trade Balance: 2011 – 2023 (£ billions)
3.2 Trade Balance by Industry
Figure 7 below shows the trade balance of goods and services combined by industry section for 2023. The vast majority of industries were net exporters, with section C (Manufacturing) being the largest net exporter and having the largest trade balance (£4.2 billion). Section G was the largest net importer with a trade balance of -£1.8 billion.
Figure 7: Trade Balance by Industry Section: 2023 (£ millions)
3.3 Other Balance of Trade Estimates
While trade balance usually refers to the difference between exports and imports, it is possible to derive a balance of trade for any domain of interest for which for both sales and purchases data exist.
Figure 8 below shows the balance of trade for Northern Ireland’s principal trade partners. NI had a trade surplus with all trade partners in 2023, with the exception of trade with REU. Total sales massively outweighed total purchases, with a difference of £35.5 billion. This was mainly driven by NI trade where sales were worth £64.3 billion and purchases were worth £35.4 billion, resulting in a surplus of £28.9 billion.
Figure 8: Trade and Balance of Trade by Trade Partner: 2023 (£ billions)
Contact Information
If you require further information about the figures contained in this publication or the accompanying tables, please contact the Economic and Labour Market Statistics Branch using the details below:
Telephone: (028) 9052 9475
Email: economicstats@nisra.gov.uk