UK exports to EU fell by £20bn last year, new ONS data shows

theguardian.com:

UK exports of goods to the EU have fallen by £20bn compared with the last period of stable trade with Europe, according to official figures marking the first full year since Brexit.

Numbers released on Friday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that the combined impact of the pandemic and Britain’s exit from the single market caused a 12% fall in exports between January and December last year compared with 2018.

Highlighting the disproportionate impact of leaving the EU, exports to the rest of the world excluding the 27-nation bloc dropped by a much smaller £10bn, or about 6% compared with 2018 levels.

The ONS compared trade performance against figures from three years ago because that was the last year before distortions caused by firms stockpiling ahead of Brexit deadlines and the spread of Covid-19.

Despite the disruption, the EU remains the UK’s largest trading partner. However, for the first time since comparable records began in 1997, the UK now spends more importing goods from the rest of the world than it does from the EU.

For shipments sent the other way, UK goods imported from the EU were down almost 17%, or about £45bn, compared with 2018. In comparison, imports from the rest of the world increased by almost 13%, or about £28bn.

With the EU accounting for just over half of UK exports worldwide, economists said Brexit was serving as an extra headwind for Britain, compounding the disruption from Covid being felt across advanced economies. “UK exporters are continuing to lose market share,” said Gabriella Dickens, an economist at the consultancy Pantheon Macroeconomics.

Although trade levels have picked up in recent months, data from the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis show that real goods