Export figures announced today by the ONS for February, have shown an increase of goods exported to the EU of £3.7 billion. Good news but not great news because the figures for January, the first full month of trade under Brexit, produced a record drop in exports of £5.7 billion equating to 42% of pre Brexit export figures. Imports from the EU during February increased by £1.2 billion up over 7 % on January when imports dropped by a massive 29.7%, another record.

Clearly the new rules and regs  that have accompanied Brexit have disrupted the trading process hugely, with pre Brexit stockpiling playing its part in the current wild swings in trade data and Covid testing of drivers at the point of departure, causing additional delays in the trade process.

Current export levels to the EU are around 7% lower than in 2020 with Brexit and Covid combining to create a near perfect storm  and the true cost to our exports of Brexit won't be that clear for some months.  Many smaller exporters have pulled out of EU exporting totally, until it is clearer what documents need to accompany their products to the EU and their return to international trading may help the trade balance in due course.