Overview of Northern Ireland Trade with Great Britain

Overview of Northern Ireland Trade with Great Britain

Date Published: 6 May 2025
Geographical Area: Northern Ireland
Theme: Economy

Outline

• This bulletin provides an analysis of Northern Ireland’s (NI) current trade and movement of goods with Great Britain (GB).

• The figures used are collated from a range of data sources including NISRA’s Northern Ireland Economic Trade Statistics (NIETS) and Economic Accounts. A complete list of sources and further information can be found under Data Sources.

• Definitions used throughout this bulletin can be found in the Glossary.

 

User Notes

• GB may not be the country of origin for where the product was manufactured or sourced but is where businesses have reported they have purchased it from. Similarly, GB might not be the final destination of a product but is where businesses have reported they were sold to. This will also apply when considering the movement of goods across the Irish Sea (between NI and GB and IE and GB).

 

Northern Ireland Economic Trade Statistics (NIETS)

• The Northern Ireland Economic Trade Statistics (NIETS) are an annual, survey-based measure of local businesses’ sales and purchases of goods and services within NI and to and from markets outside NI.

• The latest data used in this bulletin refers to survey year 2023 and all values are in current prices i.e. do not account for inflation.

• It should be noted that a purchase by a NI business from a GB business does not necessarily equate to a full market transaction. For example, some purchases will relate to a large GB company transferring goods from a distribution centre in GB to a branch located within NI.

• More information is available under Data Sources.

Trade in Context

• In 2023, NI’s total sales equalled £97.6bn with purchases of £62.0bn. The majority are to/from other businesses within NI (i.e. internal trade) at £64.3bn (65.9% of total sales) and £35.4bn (57.1% of total purchases).

• GB remains NI’s largest external market (i.e. outside of NI) equating to 17.5% (£17.1bn) of total sales and 26.1% (16.2bn) of total purchases.

• Ireland (IE) is NI’s single largest export and import (i.e. outside of UK) 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).

• NI sales to GB were worth almost twice as much as NI exports to IE, and NI purchases from GB were worth 4.3 times more than NI imports from IE.

• For more information on NI trade with all trade partners, see the latest NIETS publication.

 

Figure 1: Sales and Exports by Trade Partner, 2023

Figure 1 Data Source: NISRA Data Portal - NIETS01; NISRA Data Portal - NIETS02

Figure 2: Purchases and Imports by Trade Partner, 2023

Note: No purchases data is currently available at individual REU or ROW country level.

Figure 2 Data Source: NISRA Data Portal - NIETS02

NI-GB Trade

* Total Trade = Sales + Purchases; Trade Balance = Sales - Purchases

   

• NI sold £17.1bn goods and services to GB in 2023, an increase of 12.4% over the year and are at their highest level in survey history. This follows an increase in sales since 2020.

• NI purchased £16.2bn goods and services from GB in 2023, an increase of 16.2% over the year and are also at their highest level in survey history following a relatively stable pattern in previous years.

• NI’s total trade (i.e. Sales + Purchases) with GB equated to £33.3bn in 2023, an increase of 14.2% over the year.

• NI’s trade balance (i.e. Sales - Purchases) with GB equated to £0.9bn in 2023, a decrease of 29.1% over the year.

Figure 3: NI-GB Trade Over Time (£bn), 2011-2023

Figure 3 Data Source: NISRA Data Portal - NIETS02

 

• A trade balance of £0.9bn in 2023 means that NI sales to GB were greater than NI purchases from GB. Over time NI has mostly purchased more from GB than it has sold (i.e. a trade deficit). NI has been in a trade surplus with GB in 2015, 2016, 2021, 2022 and 2023.

• NI sold £11.6bn of goods and £5.5bn of services to GB in 2023.

• NI purchased £13.4bn goods and £2.8bn of services from GB in 2023.

 

Figure 4: NI-GB Good and Services Trade Over Time, 2023

Figure 4 Data Source: NISRA Data Portal - NIETS02

Trade by Business Employment Size

• Businesses can be broken into 4 different size groupings: Micro (0-9 employees), small (10-49 employees), medium (50-249 employees) and large (250+ employees). Each of these groupings make up around a quarter of NI-GB sales (£17.1bn).

• Of the 10,107 NI businesses that sold goods and services to GB, the majority of these were micro businesses (0-9 employees) (57.4%) whilst large businesses (250+ employees) made up 0.9% of all NI-GB sellers.

 

Figure 5: Value of NI-GB Sales, 2023

Figure 5 Data Source: NISRA Data Portal - NIETS04

Figure 6: Number of NI-GB Sellers, 2023

Note: Business counts with trading partners are not mutually exclusive as a business can trade to multiple destinations. Businesses can also buy and sell to the same partner.

Figure 6 Data Source: NISRA Data Portal - NIETS04

 

• A very similar pattern can be seen when looking at the value of NI-GB purchases. All four business employment size groupings contributed around 25% of NI-GB purchases (£16.2bn).

• Of the 14,906 NI businesses that purchased goods and services from GB, the majority of these were micro businesses (0-9 employees) (57.9%) whilst large businesses (250+ employees) made up 0.8% of all NI-GB purchasers

 

Figure 7: Value of NI-GB Purchases, 2023

Figure 7 Data Source: NISRA Data Portal - NIETS04

Figure 8: Number of NI-GB Purchasers, 2023

Note: Business counts with trading partners are not mutually exclusive as a business can trade to multiple destinations. Businesses can also buy and sell to the same partner.

Figure 8 Data Source: NISRA Data Portal - NIETS04

Trade by Industry Section

• The Manufacturing sector sold the largest proportion of goods and services to GB in 2023, equating to 40.1% (£6.8bn) of all NI-GB sales. This is followed by Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles at 24.8% (£4.2bn) and Construction at 15.0% (£2.5bn).

• When disaggregated by 2 digit Standard Industrial Classification (SIC2), manufacture of food products sold the largest value of goods and services to GB at £3.0bn.

 

Figure 9: Value of NI-GB Sales by Industry Section, 2023

Note: Disclosive industries have been excluded.

Figure 9 Data Source:NISRA Data Portal - NIETS02

Figure 10: Top 10 NI-GB Sales by SIC2, 2023

Note: Disclosive industries have been excluded.

Figure 10 Data Source:NISRA Data Portal - NIETS03

• The Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles sector purchased the majority of goods and services from GB at 54.8% (£8.5bn). This is followed by Manufacturing at 21.4% (£3.3bn) and Construction at 12.0% (£1.9bn).

• When disaggregated by SIC2, Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles purchased the largest value of goods and services from GB at £3.5bn.

 

Figure 11: Value of NI-GB Purchases by Industry Section, 2023

Note: Disclosive industries have been excluded.

Figure 11 Data Source:NISRA Data Portal - NIETS02

Figure 12: Top 10 NI-GB Purchases by SIC2, 2023

Note: Disclosive industries have been excluded.

Figure 12 Data Source:NISRA Data Portal - NIETS03

• Those businesses who manufacture leather and related products (SIC 15) were most dependent on purchases from GB with 97.8% of all purchases coming from GB in 2023.

Figure 13: NI Industries Most Dependent on Purchases of Goods from GB Businesses (more than 30% of All Purchases), 2023

NI Supply-Use Tables

• Supply-Use tables (SUTs) provide a picture of the flows of products and services in the economy for a single year and provide a more complete picture of NI trade due to the volume of input data sources (one of which is NIETS) required for their production.

• Due to the significant time required to compile these tables, the latest data available tends to be lagged by a few years. The latest data available for use in this bulletin is for the year 2020.

• Users should also note that due to the COVID-19 pandemic there were challenges in the collection and processing of many data sources that underpin the NI SUTs, as well as leading to large impacts on structures and behaviours within the economy. As a result, estimates for 2020 may look less typical when compared with other years.

• More information and an explanation of the differences between NISRA’s Supply-Use Tables (SUTs) and the Northern Ireland Economic Trade Statistics (NIETS) can be found under Data Sources.

 

GB Supply and GB Use

• As well as showing the goods and services produced by each industry in NI, the Supply Table also shows external purchases from IE, GB, REU and ROW.

• In 2020, purchases from GB to NI (also known as GB supply) equated to £17.0bn.

• Top three products for GB supply in 2020:

  1. Food products (£2,297m)
  2. Coke, refined petroleum and chemicals (£1,700m)
     
  3. Computer, electronic and optical products (£883m)

 

• The Use Table shows the demand for goods and services by NI industries, including external sales.

• In 2020, sales to GB from NI (known as GB use) equated to £11.8bn.

• Top three products for GB use in 2020:

  1. Food products (£2,475m)
  2. Construction (£1,922m)
     
  3. Machinery and equipment n.e.c. (£478m)

Figure 14: Value of GB Use and GB Supply (£m), 2020

Figure 14 Data Source: NISRA NI Supply Use Tables 2017-2020.XLSX (54kB)

• The SUTs also provide insight into NI’s net position in terms of the goods and services sold externally relative to purchases from outside NI. With a sales value of £11.8bn to GB and a purchases value of £17.0bn from GB, this results in a trade balance of -£5.2bn.

• Top 3 products for absolute value of GB balance of trade in 2020:

  1. Construction (£1,899m)
  2. Coke, refined petroleum and chemicals (-£1,433m)
     
  3. Computer, electronic and optical products (-£713m)

Figure 15: NI - GB Balance of Trade from NI Supply-Use tables (£m), 2020

Figure 15 Data Source: NISRA NI Supply Use Tables 2017-2020.XLSX (54kB)

• GB Use as a proportion of total Use was largest for Water transport services, where GB use contributed 53.7% of all use, followed by Information Services (32.0%) and Head offices and management consultancy (30.3%).

• GB Supply as a proportion of total Supply was largest for Repair and installation of machinery and equipment, where GB supply contributed 60.8% of all supply, followed by Motion picture, video & TV programme production, sound recording & music publishing activities & programming and broadcasting activities (54.9%) and Basic metals (53.8%).

Figure 16: GB Contribution to Total Use and Total Supply as Percentage (%), 2020

Note: Wholesale trade services, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles and Retail trade services, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles have been excluded.

Figure 16 Data Source: NISRA NI Supply Use Tables 2017-2020.XLSX (54kB)

Movement of Goods

There were an estimated 1.7 million Irish Sea HGV crossings (crossings between IE and GB, and NI and GB) in 2023. Of these:

• 0.9 million (54.5%) were between NI and GB

• 0.8 million (45.5%) were between IE and GB

Figure 17: Number of Irish Sea (IE/NI-GB) HGV Crossings, 2023

Sources: Northern Ireland Ports Traffic 2023; Port Freight Annual Statistics 2023, Department for Transport

 

There were an estimated 20,026 vessel arrivals at NI and IE sea ports (including GB and other international arrivals) in 2023.

An estimated 34.3 million tonnes of sea freight crossing the Irish Sea (crossings between IE and GB, and NI and GB) in 2023. Of these:

• 19.4 million tonnes (56.6%) were between NI and GB

  • NI received 10.2 million tonnes
  • NI forwarded 9.2 million tonnes

• 14.9 million tonnes (43.4%) were between IE and GB

  • IE received 8.1 million tonnes
  • IE forwarded 6.8 million tonnes

Figure 18: Weight of Irish Sea (IE/NI-GB) Sea Freight, 2023

Sources: Port Freight Annual Statistics 2023, Department for Transport; Vessel Arrivals, CSO - TBQ01; Northern Ireland Ports Traffic 2023

 

There were 170,122 air traffic movements between airports in NI and GB, and IE and GB in 2023.

An estimated 52,072 tonnes of air freight crossing the Irish Sea (IE/NI - GB) in 2023. Of these:

• 22,172 tonnes (42.6%) were between NI and GB
  

• 29,900 tonnes (57.4%) were between IE and GB

Figure 19: Weight of Irish Sea (IE/NI-GB) Air Freight, 2023

Sources: Annual Airport Data 2023, UK Civil Aviation Authority; Passengers, Freight and Commercial Flights, CSO - TAA06

Data Sources

Northern Ireland Economic Trade Statistics (NIETS)

Background

• The NIETS (formerly known as the Broad Economy Sales and Exports Statistics (BESES)) is an annual measure of local businesses’ sales and purchases of goods and services within Northern Ireland (NI) and to and from markets outside NI.
• NIETS data is gathered through the NI Annual Business Inquiry (ABI) and has been running since 2011.
• Captures trade in both goods and services.
• Data frequency: annual basis.

Points to note:

• Latest figures are provisional and subject to revision.
• Survey-based data source – associated drawbacks include respondent bias, error, gaps in survey coverage, sampling error etc.
• Survey simply captures the value of a transaction and the destination of the sale. We know nothing about:
  • the business making the purchase
  • the products sold
  • whether the goods are final products or are intermediate goods to be used in a further production process
  • the ultimate destination of any goods sold on
  • transport/shipping routes
• Sector coverage – Excludes the following sectors:
  • Insurance and re-insurance industries;
  • Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing; Public Administration and Defence;
  • Local authority and central Government bodies in Education and Human Health and Social Work Activities plus Medical and Dental Practice Activities.

For more information please refer to the NIETS Quick Reference Guide and the NISRA website.

Economic Accounts

NISRA has an ongoing project to develop key elements of a system of Economic Accounts for Northern Ireland (NI). This provides users with a number of valuable indicators relating to the structure and inter-industry relationships of the NI economy to aid economic analysis and decision making.

A modern open economy, like that of NI, engages in four basic economic activities:

1. Production involves industries producing goods and services;
2. Consumption represents purchases of goods and services by both industries and domestic final users comprising mainly households, and Central and Local Government;
3. Investment includes the accumulation all capital transactions such as fixed investment expenditure and changes in the level of stocks; and
4. Trade is the total value of external sales minus imports.

Measurement of these four activities is captured in the framework of the SUTs. The resulting tables serve a number of purposes, all of which contribute in different ways to understanding the Northern Ireland economy.

The Supply-Use tables (SUTs) provide a picture of the flows of products and services in the economy for a single year and are used to set the level of annual current price Gross Domestic Product (GDP). They show the composition of uses and resources across institutional sectors and the inter-dependence of industries in order to reconcile the production, income and expenditure approaches to the measurement of GDP (see image below).

The Supply table shows the output of each product by each industry and producers are classified according to their principal product.

The Use table shows, for each industry classification, both the intermediate consumption (i.e.: the value of products used-up or altered by the production process) and final use of products. Both intermediate and final use are valued at purchasers’ prices and cover domestically produced and imported products.

Differences in trade as measured by Northern Ireland Economic Trade Statistics (NIETS) and Supply-Use Tables (SUTs)

• It is important to note that sales figures reported in the Supply and Use Tables (SUTs) can differ from those in the NIETS. This is primarily due to differences in valuation and scope: the SUTs exclude taxes and duties payable by non-residents (such as those from GB), as they aim to reflect domestic production and consumption. NIETS, on the other hand, captures cross-border trade flows, including taxes or duties when applicable.

• The NIETS measure does not cover the finance sector, the trade of live animals or imports or exports of travel services, all of which are included in the SUTs estimate of total NI trade.

• NIETS focuses on industry level trade whereas SUTs focuses on product level trade.

• SUTs has also been through the balancing process which reconciles data from multiple sources to ensure consistency between the supply and use of goods and services across the economy and may cause some differences when comparing to NIETS.

For more information, please refer to the Northern Ireland Economic Accounts Overview page.

Movement of Goods

Data relating to the movement of goods is derived from a range of data sources. Links to information can be found below and direct links to the data used are available under the appropriate figure in Movement of Goods.

Links:

• Northern Ireland Ports Traffic
  
• Port Freight Annual Statistics, Department for Transport
  
• Statistics of Port Traffic, CSO
  
• UK Airport Data, UK Civil Aviation Authority
  
• Aviation Statistics, CSO

Other Sources of NI Trade Data

• NI Monthly Trade in Goods Dashboard
• HMRC Regional Trade Statistics
• Central Statistics Office (CSO) Goods Exports and Imports
• Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA)
• GOV.WALES International Goods Trade: Interactive Dashboard
• ONS Interregional Trade in Goods and Services, UK: 2019 and 2020
• Summary of Movements of Goods into Northern Ireland from Great Britain 2023: commentary

Glossary

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.

External Sales are comprised of those sales made outside Northern Ireland (NI), that is, sales to Great Britain (GB), Ireland (IE), the Rest of the European Union (REU) and the Rest of the World (ROW).

Exports are defined as all sales outside the United Kingdom.

Total purchases are defined as the sum of all purchases from Northern Ireland, Great Britain, Ireland, the Rest of the European Union and the Rest of the World. Total purchases include all non-deductible VAT. In the case of imports the cost includes import and excise duties.

External Purchases are comprised of purchases made outside NI, that is, purchases from GB, IE, REU and the ROW.

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 motorcycles (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:

\[\text{trade balance = value of exports - value of imports}\] 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.”

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

Web: NISRA - Business, economy and trade

‘@NISRA’

Accessibility Contact

Please contact Dissemination Branch for assistance with accessibility requirements or alternative formats. Contact details are:

Email: info@nisra.gov.uk

Telephone: +44 (0)300 200 7836

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