Official Statistics

Summary of movements of goods into Northern Ireland from Great Britain 2023: commentary

Published 25 June 2024

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. This release relates to the previous Northern Ireland Protocol, and should not be used to draw conclusions about future trading arrangements.

Introduction

This release includes provisional management information for the calendar years 2022 and 2023. It reports on the movements of goods into Northern Ireland (NI) from Great Britain (GB) and 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)
• direct entry to Customs Declaration Service (CDS)

A breakdown of the top 5 commodities moved into NI from GB by value in 2023 enhances this further.

The declaring behaviour of businesses is not necessarily consistent over time and will vary for a variety of reasons and at any point within a given period.

For the period covered by this publication, customs declarations are not required for postal and parcel movements sent from GB to consumers in NI.

The methodology has been updated and data for 2022 has been revised as part of this publication. Users must refer to the full explanation of data sources and methodology changes in the accompanying methodology notes.

Summary statistics

1,470,000 down by 0.5% when compared with the 2022 declaration count of 1,480,000

Declaration counts into Northern Ireland from Great Britain

Table 1: Count of full declarations cleared by HMRC into NI from GB

Declaration system	2022	2023
Trader Support Service	1,340,000	1,300,000
Customs Declaration Service	130,000	170,000
Total	1,480,000	1,470,000

Source: Customs Declaration Service (CDS), administrative data from HM Revenue & Customs

Download detailed data for Table 1 (ODS 10.8 KB)

Notes:

• declaration counts are rounded to the nearest 10,000 and may not sum to the totals provided

• the declaring behaviour of businesses is not necessarily consistent over time and will vary for a variety of reasons and at any point within a given period

• items on a declaration with a value greater than £100 million are excluded to remove likely erroneous entries and extreme outliers

Table 1 shows the number of full declarations cleared by HMRC for movements of goods into Northern Ireland from Great Britain, 2022 to 2023:

• the total number of full declarations was 1,470,000 in 2023, decreasing by 10,000 (0.5%) from 2022

Of the declarations in 2023:

• 1,300,000 declarations were routed through the TSS in 2023, decreasing by 50,000  (4%) from 2022

• 170,000 declarations were routed directly to CDS in 2023, increasing by 40,000 (31%) from 2022

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	2022	2023
Trader Support Service	12,100	10,200
Customs Declaration Service	1,400	1,900
Total	12,800	11,200

Source: Customs Declaration Service (CDS), administrative data from HM Revenue & Customs

Download detailed data for Table 2 (ODS 10.7 KB)

Notes:

• business counts are rounded to the nearest 100

• the declaring behaviour of businesses is not necessarily consistent over time and will vary for a variety of reasons and at any point within a given period

• declaration system categories will not sum to the unique totals, as a business can route declarations through both the TSS and directly into 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 to remove likely erroneous entries and extreme outliers

Table 2 shows the number of businesses associated with full declarations cleared by HMRC for movements of goods into Northern Ireland from Great Britain, 2022 to 2023:

• the total number of businesses in 2023 was 11,200, decreasing by 1,600 (13%) from 2022

Of the businesses in 2023:

• 10,200 businesses routed declarations through the TSS in 2023, decreasing by 1,900 (16%) from 2022

• 1,900 businesses routed declarations directly to CDS in 2023, increasing by 400 (31%) from 2022

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	2022	2023
Trader Support Service	12.6	13.7
Customs Declaration Service	1.6	4.1
Total	14.2	17.8

Source: Customs Declaration Service (CDS), administrative data from HM Revenue & Customs

Download detailed data for Table 3 (ODS 10.9 KB)

Notes:

• values are rounded to the nearest £100 million and may not sum to the totals provided

• the declaring behaviour of businesses is not necessarily consistent over time and will vary for a variety of reasons and at any point within a given period

• items on a declaration with a value greater than £100 million are excluded to remove likely erroneous entries and extreme outliers

Table 3 shows the value associated with full declarations cleared by HMRC for movements of goods into Northern Ireland from Great Britain, 2022 to 2023:

• the total value in 2023 was £17.8 billion, increasing by £3.6 billion (26%) from 2022

Of this total value:

• £13.7 billion was routed through the TSS in 2023, this increased by £1.2 billion (9%) from 2022

• £4.1 billion was routed directly to CDS in 2023, this increased by £2.5 billion (to 2.5 times the value) from 2022

Top commodities moving into Northern Ireland from Great Britain

Table 4: Top 5 goods commodities by value, associated with declarations cleared by HMRC in 2023 (£ billions)

Commodity	2022	2023
Chapter 27: Mineral fuels, oils and waxes	1.7	3.1
Chapter 87: Motor vehicles (excluding Trains)	2.2	2.5
Chapter 30: Pharmaceutical products	0.5	1.3
Chapter 84: Mechanical appliances	0.8	0.8
Chapter 16: Preparation of meat and fish	0.7	0.7

Source: Customs Declaration Service (CDS), administrative data from HM Revenue & Customs

Download detailed data for Table 4 (ODS 10.4 KB)

Notes:

• values are rounded to the nearest £100 million

• the declaring behaviour of businesses is not necessarily consistent over time and will vary for a variety of reasons and at any point within a given period

• 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 to remove likely erroneous entries and extreme outliers

Table 4 shows the values of the top 5 goods commodities moving into Northern Ireland from Great Britain in 2023:

• Mineral fuels, oils & waxes was £3.1 billion in 2023, increasing by £1.4 billion (85%) from 2022

• Motor vehicles (excl trains) was £2.5 billion in 2023, increasing by £0.3 billion (14%) from 2022

• Pharmaceutical products was £1.3 billion in 2023, increasing by £0.8 billion (to 2.5 times the value) from 2022

• Mechanical appliances was £0.8 billion in 2023, increasing by less than £0.1 billion (7%) from 2022

• Preparation of meat and fish was £0.7 billion in 2023, decreasing by less than £0.1 billion (3%) from 2022