The UK Office for National Statistics (ONS), in its July 2026 trade bulletin released on 11 September, reported that the total goods and services trade deficit narrowed to £9.0 billion in the three months to July. That was £1.1 billion less than in the three months to April. Over the same comparison, the goods deficit narrowed by £0.4 billion to £61.6 billion, while the services surplus widened by £0.7 billion to £52.6 billion. The ONS notes that three-month estimates tend to be more stable than monthly balances but can mask changes within individual months, so the measures describe different time windows.

In July’s monthly goods figures, imports at current prices rose by £1.3 billion, or 2.4%, to £55.3 billion; exports increased by £0.9 billion, or 2.8%, to £33.9 billion. The rise in imports reflected a £1.7 billion increase from non-EU countries, partly offset by a £0.4 billion fall in imports from the EU. The increase in exports included £0.8 billion more sales to the EU and £0.1 billion more to non-EU countries. These current-price values are nominal amounts and have not been adjusted for inflation.

After removing inflation, July goods imports and exports each increased by £1.1 billion. The import rise came from non-EU trade, while the export increase was driven by sales to the EU. It is important to distinguish measures when describing the overall balance: the three-month nominal deficit was £9.0 billion, compared with £17.4 billion using chained-volume measures. Unless otherwise stated, the ONS excludes precious metals and non-monetary gold because their volatile movements can obscure underlying trends. The series are seasonally adjusted. The office also notes a remaining methodological break in the longer EU goods-trade series from January 2021, following post-Brexit changes to data collection.