Question to the Department for International Trade:

What recent assessment she has made of trends in the level of UK exports.

Before the pandemic hit, global trade was already in trouble. Nine out of the top ten exporting countries – including China, Japan, Germany, and the USA – all saw their exports fall in 2019 (according to UNCTAD data). The one exception to this was the United Kingdom, which overtook France to become the world’s fifth largest exporter. Our exports increased by 4.2% to £689.3bn in 2019. Latest figures show that UK exports in the 12 months to September 2020 were £624.8bn, down 7.7% on same period last year.

Sources: ‘UNCTAD Goods and Services (BPM6): Exports and imports of goods and services, annual’ and ‘ONS Balance of Payments UK, July to September 2020’.