New data published by the Welsh Government on 11 June 2020 show that the value of goods exports for Wales in the year to March 2020 was £17.2 billion, down £0.5 billion (2.7%) compared to the same period the previous year. HMRC reported a similar decrease across all four UK nations.
Interestingly, France has replaced Germany as the top export destination for Wales, with £2.8bn worth of goods accounting for 16.1% of exports (up from 15.6% of exports in the previous year). France is also England’s third top exports market (worth £16.2bn), Scotland’s fifth (worth £1.8bn) and Northern Ireland’s fifth (worth £0.4).
Although the value of Welsh goods exported to France increased by 0.8% from the previous year, the main factor in France becoming Wales’ top exports destination seems to be the continued decrease of Germany’s share.
In the year ending March 2020, less than 16% of Welsh goods were exported to Germany, compared to 17.8% in the year ending March 2019, and 19.8% in that ending March 2018. This fall in German exports can be seen across nine of the ten industry sectors with machinery and transport falling the most (£412 million). Meanwhile, the Netherlands showed the largest increase in value, up by an impressive 20.4%.
On the whole, even though the EU still accounts for most Welsh exports (60%, compared with 47.2% of UK exports), this share decreased by 4.6% from the previous year while exports to non-EU countries increased by 0.2%.
In terms of products, exports from Wales continued to be dominated by machinery and transport equipment (which made up 49.3% of exports) followed by minerals, fuels, lubricants; chemicals and related products; and manufactured goods.
The most recent breakdown of Welsh exports by destination and products I could find does not cover the period April 2019-March 2020, but the period July 2018-July 2019, when Germany was still Wales’ largest export market. Although slightly out of date, the graph below still gives an idea of the breakdown and confirms that transport equipment is by far what France imports the most from Wales.
It is worth nothing that these data exclude services (which the Office for National Statistics estimates to make up approximately 30% of total exports in Wales). They also only cover a short period of the ongoing pandemic, and therefore do not reflect its impact.
Next year’s figures will tell whether the Welsh Government’s commitment to furthering Franco-Welsh relationships in general, and regional development with Brittany and Grenoble more specifically, will have helped France to stay Wales’ top destination for exports despite the challenging circumstances.
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