Northern Ireland Economic Trade Statistics 2023 & Northern Ireland Annual Business Inquiry

Date published:
11 December 2024

The bulletins can be accessed via the NISRA website at the Broad Economy Sales and Exports and Annual Business Inquiry page.

Headline Results – NIETS

• A strong trading performance was reported by NI businesses during 2023 with total sales reaching a survey record high. All destinations experienced an increase in total sales and total purchases over the year, except for imports from the Rest of the World.
• For both sales and purchases the trends were similar. NI remained our largest trade market, followed by GB, with Ireland being our largest trading partner outside the UK.

Trade Balance

• While trade balance usually refers to the difference between exports and imports, it is possible to derive a balance of trade for any domain of interest for which both sales and purchases data exist.
• Total sales considerably exceeded total purchases, by a difference of £35.5 billion. This was mainly driven by trade within NI where sales were worth £64.3 billion and purchases were worth £35.4 billion, resulting in a surplus of £28.9 billion. NI had a trade surplus (i.e. we sold more than we purchased) with Great Britain (GB) of £0.9 billion, Ireland (IE) of £4.9 billion and with Rest of the World (ROW) of £1.6 billion. NI had a trade deficit (i.e. we sold less than we purchased) with the Rest of Europe (REU) of £0.8 billion.

Further analysis of the individual trade components is presented below.

Total sales were worth £97.6 billion in 2023

• Total sales by NI companies increased by 12.1% (£10.5 billion) from £87.0 billion in 2022 to £97.6 billion in 2023. This is the largest value of total sales on survey record.

Total value of external sales increased by 15.7%

• The total value of external sales by NI companies was estimated to be worth £33.3 billion in 2023. This represents an increase of 15.7% (£4.5 billion) over the year in current prices, compared to an increase in the previous year of 13.4%.
• External sales are comprised of:

1. Sales to Great Britain (GB) plus
2. Exports (sales to Ireland (IE), the Rest of Europe (REU) and the Rest of the World (ROW)). ROW refers to all other destinations outside the EU, GB and NI.

• Sales to GB increased by £1.9 billion to £17.1 billion in 2023, up 12.4% over the year.
• Exports (see explanation above) increased by £2.6 billion (19.5%) over the year, to £16.2 billion.

Ireland remains our single largest export market

• Exports to Ireland amounted to £8.7 billion in 2023 and were higher than the combined total of sales to the Rest of the EU (£2.6 billion) and sales to Rest of World (£4.9 billion). Exports to Ireland increased by £1.3 billion (17.6%) in 2023.
• Exports to the REU (EU, excluding IE) increased over the year by £0.4 billion (19.6%) to £2.6 billion.
• Exports to the ROW (see explanation above) increased by £0.9 billion (22.9%) over the year to £4.9 billion.

Sales within Northern Ireland increased by 10.3%

• Sales within NI increased by £6.0 billion between 2022 and 2023 to £64.3 billion, a rise of 10.3% over the year.

Trade in Goods and Services with Individual Trade Partners

Trade within Northern Ireland accounted for 65.9% of total sales and 57.0% of total purchases

• Sales of goods and services within Northern Ireland made up 65.9% (£64.3 billion) of total sales (£97.6 billion). Of this, 66.3% (£42.6 billion) related to the sale of goods and 33.7% (£21.7 billion) to the sale of services.
• Purchases of goods and services from within NI made up 57.0% (£35.4 billion) of total purchases (£62.0 billion). Of this 75.0% (£26.5 billion) was purchases of goods and 25.0% (£8.8 billion) was purchases of services.

Trade with Great Britain accounted for 17.5% of total sales and 26.1% of total purchases

• Sales of goods and services to Great Britain made up 17.5% (£17.1 billion) of total sales (£97.6 billion). Of this, 67.7% (£11.6 billion) related to the sale of goods and 32.3% (£5.5 billion) to the sale of services.
• Purchases of goods and services from GB made up 26.1% (£16.2 billion) of total purchases (£62.0 billion). Of this 83.0% (£13.4 billion) was purchases of goods and 17.0% (£2.8 billion) was purchases of services.

Trade with Ireland accounted for 8.9% of total sales and 6.0% of total purchases

• Sales of goods and services to Ireland made up 8.9% (£8.7 billion) of total sales (£97.6 billion). Of this, 75.4% (£6.5 billion) related to the sale of goods and 24.6% (£2.1 billion) to the sale of services.
• Purchases of goods and services from Ireland made up 6.0% (£3.8 billion) of total purchases (£62.0 billion). Of this 87.9% (£3.3 billion) related to the import of goods and 12.1% (£0.5 billion) to the import of services.

Trade with Rest of EU made up 2.7% of total sales and 5.6% of total purchases

• Sales of goods and services to Rest of EU made up 2.7% (£2.6 billion) of total sales (£97.6 billion). Of this, 70.3% (£1.8 billion) related to the sale of goods and 29.7% (£0.8 billion) to the sale of services.
• Purchases of goods and services from REU made up 5.6% (£3.5 billion) of total purchases (£62.0 billion). Of this 91.3% (£3.2 billion) related to the import of goods and 8.7% (£0.3 billion) to the import of services.

Trade with Rest of World made up 5.0% of total sales and 5.2% of total purchases

• Sales of goods and services to Rest of World made up 5.0% (£4.9 billion) of total sales (£97.6 billion). Of this, 68.0% (£3.3 billion) related to the sale of goods and 32.0% (£1.6 billion) to the sale of services.
• Purchases of goods and services from ROW made up 5.2% (£3.2 billion) of total purchases (£62.0 billion). Of this 90.4% (£2.9 billion) related to the import of goods and 9.6% (£0.3 billion) to the import of services.

Headline Results – ABI

Key Points

• The NIETS uses figures from the ABI within its publication, namely the turnover (i.e. sales) and purchases estimates for NI businesses. As reported under the NIETS headline results above, turnover (i.e., the value of total sales and work done) in the NI non-financial business economy as a whole increased by £10.5 billion (12.1%) over the year to £97.6 billion and purchases of goods, materials, energy, water and services increased by £5.0 billion (8.7%) to £62.0 billion.
• In 2023, the income generated by non-financial businesses in Northern Ireland (NI), less the cost of goods and services used to create this income, was estimated to be £37.2 billion. This amount represents the approximate Gross Value Added (aGVA) at basic prices of the NI non-financial business economy, excluding farming and financial services.

Change between 2022-23

• The NI non-financial business economy, as measured by the Northern Ireland Annual Business Inquiry (NIABI), recorded an increase of £5.0 billion (15.4%) in aGVA from 2022 to 2023.
• The key driver of aGVA growth was the NI Services Industries sector (industry Sections H-S) which increased by £1.6 billion (12.5%). The majority of aGVA growth in this sector is attributable to the Transport and Storage services section (Section H) which increased by £525 million (28.7%). The Distribution sector (Section G) increased by £1.5 billion (19.0%) between 2022 and 2023.

Effect of inflation on trade

• Where a large change in trade is recorded over the year, it is normal practice to query the data with businesses. In many cases, the changes in trade over the years 2021 to 2022 and 2022 to 2023 were explained by increasing prices. However, it is not possible at this point to isolate the effects of inflation in this data.

Other Releases

NISRA will release the following publications in December 2024:

• Northern Ireland Good Jobs Measure 2024 on 11th December
• Business Expenditure on Research and Development on 12th December
• Labour Market Report on 17th December
• Index of Production on 19th December
• Index of Services on 19th December