Summary of movements of goods into Northern Ireland from Great Britain 2022: commentary
Published 22 June 2023
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/summary-of-movements-of-goods-into-northern-ireland-from-great-britain-2022/summary-of-movements-of-goods-into-northern-ireland-from-great-britain-2022-commentary
The UK and the EU have agreed the Windsor Framework, which establishes a new UK internal trade scheme based on commercial data-sharing for the movement of goods.
All data reported within this release applies to periods before the Windsor Framework was implemented.
Introduction
This release uses provisional management information for the calendar years 2021 and 2022, and reports on the movements of goods into Northern Ireland (NI) from Great Britain (GB). It includes:
- the number of full declarations cleared by HM Revenue & Customs
- the number of businesses and the value of goods associated with these declarations
These are further split by declaration system:
- Trader Support Service (TSS) or
- Direct entry to Customs Declaration Service (CDS)
A breakdown of the top 5 commodities moved into NI from GB by value in 2022 enhances this further.
Customs declarations are not required for postal and parcel movements sent from GB to consumers in NI.
Users must refer to the full explanation of data sources and methodology changes in the accompanying methodology notes.
Summary statistics
Total number of full declarations cleared by HMRC for movements of goods into Northern Ireland from Great Britain in 2022
1,470,000 up by 41% when compared with the 2021 declaration count of 1,040,000
Total number of unique businesses moving goods into Northern Ireland from Great Britain in 2022
12,800 up by 22% when compared with the 2021 business count of 10,500
Declaration counts into Northern Ireland from Great Britain
Table 1: Count of full declarations cleared by HMRC into NI from GB
| Declaration system | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| Trader Support Service (TSS) | 950,000 | 1,340,000 |
| Customs Declaration Service (CDS) | 90,000 | 130,000 |
| Total | 1,040,000 | 1,470,000 |
Download detailed data for Table 1 (ODS 10.6 kb).
Source: Administrative data extracted from HMRC’s Customs Declaration Service (CDS)
Notes:
-
Declaration counts are rounded to the nearest 10,000 and may not sum to the totals provided.
-
Items on a declaration with a value greater than £100 million are excluded. This is to remove likely erroneous entries and extreme outliers from this release. Any items remaining on the declaration have been included.
Table 1 shows the number of full declarations cleared by HMRC for movements of goods into Northern Ireland from Great Britain, 2021 to 2022:
- The total number of full declarations was 1,470,000 in 2022. This increased by 430,000 (41%) from 2021.
Of these declarations:
- 1,340,000 declarations were routed through the TSS in 2022. This increased by 390,000 (41%) from 2021.
- 130,000 declarations were routed directly to CDS in 2022. This increased by 40,000 (44%) from 2021.
Number of businesses moving goods into Northern Ireland from Great Britain
Table 2: Count of businesses associated with full declarations cleared by HMRC into NI from GB
| Declaration system | Business Count 2021 | Business Count 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| Trader Support Service (TSS) | 9,900 | 12,100 |
| Customs Declaration Service (CDS) | 1,200 | 1,400 |
| Total | 10,500 | 12,800 |
Download detailed data for Table 2 (ODS 10.6 kb)
Source: Administrative data extracted from HMRC’s Customs Declaration Service (CDS)
Notes:
- Business counts are rounded to the nearest 100.
- Declaration systems will not sum to the unique totals as a business can route declarations both through the TSS and directly to CDS.
- Businesses are defined by the unique Economic Operators Registration and Identification (EORI) number associated with full declarations cleared by HMRC.
- Items on a declaration with a value greater than £100 million are excluded. This is to remove likely erroneous entries and extreme outliers from this release. Any items remaining on the declaration have been included.
Table 2 shows the number of businesses associated with full declarations cleared by HMRC for movements of goods into Northern Ireland from Great Britain, 2021 to 2022:
- The total number of businesses in 2022 was 12,800. This increased by 2,300 (22%) from 2021.
Of these businesses:
- 12,100 businesses routed declarations through the TSS in 2022. This increased by 2,200 (23%) from 2021.
- 1,400 businesses routed declarations directly to CDS in 2022. This increased by 200 (22%) from 2021.
Reported value of goods moving into Northern Ireland from Great Britain
Table 3: Value of goods associated with full declarations cleared by HMRC into NI from GB (£ billions)
| Declaration system | Value 2021 | Value 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| Trader Support Service (TSS) | 11.2 | 12.5 |
| Customs Declaration Service (CDS) | 1.3 | 1.6 |
| Total | 12.4 | 14.1 |
Download detailed data for Table 3 (ODS 10.4 kb)
Source: Administrative data extracted from HMRC’s Customs Declaration Service (CDS)
Notes:
- Values are rounded to the nearest £100 million and may not sum to the totals provided.
- Items on a declaration with a value greater than £100 million are excluded. This is to remove likely erroneous entries and extreme outliers from this release. Any items remaining on the declaration have been included.
Table 3 shows the value associated with full declarations cleared by HMRC for movements of goods into Northern Ireland from Great Britain, 2021 to 2022:
- The total value in 2022 was £14.1 billion. This increased by £1.7 billion (13%) from 2021.
Of this total value:
- £12.5 billion was routed through the TSS in 2022. This increased by £1.3 billion (12%) from 2021.
- £1.6 billion was routed directly to CDS in 2022 . This increased by £0.3 billion (23%) from 2021.
Top commodities by value moving into Northern Ireland from Great Britain
Table 4: Top 5 commodities by value, associated with declarations cleared by HMRC in 2022 into NI from GB (£ billions)
| Chapter | Commodity | Value 2021 | Value 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 87 | Motor vehicles (excluding Trains) | 1.7 | 2.2 |
| 27 | Mineral fuels, oils and waxes | 1.1 | 1.7 |
| 21 | Miscellaneous edible preparations | 1.2 | 0.8 |
| 84 | Mechanical appliances | 0.8 | 0.8 |
| 16 | Preparation of meat and fish | 0.6 | 0.7 |
Download detailed data for Table 4 (ODS 10.8 kb)
Source: Administrative data extracted from HMRC’s Customs Declaration Service (CDS)
Notes:
- Values are rounded to the nearest £100 million and may not sum to the totals provided.
- Full goods commodity descriptions can be found by using the Find commodity data page on the UK Trade info website
- Items on a declaration with a value greater than £100 million are excluded. This is to remove likely erroneous entries and extreme outliers from this release. Any items remaining on the declaration have been included.
Table 4 shows the values of the top 5 goods commodities moving into Northern Ireland from Great Britain in 2022:
- Motor vehicles (excluding trains) was £2.2 billion in 2022. This increased by £0.5 billion (34%) from 2021.
- Mineral fuels, oils & waxes was £1.7 billion in 2022. This increased by £0.6 billion (55%) from 2021.
- Miscellaneous edible preparations was £0.8 billion in 2022. This decreased by £0.4 billion (32%) from 2021.
- Mechanical appliances was £0.8 billion in 2022. This increased by less than £0.1 billion (5%) from 2021.
- Preparation of meat and fish was £0.7 billion in 2022. This increased by £0.1 billion (16%) from 2021.