If you strip out the spin, 2025 was the year the UK’s export story finally came into focus: goods had a rough ride, services quietly did the heavy lifting, and the US (for well documented reasons) stopped being the easy win.

Here’s what actually happened.

The headline: exports grew, but in a lopsided way

On the surface, the totals don’t look bad. Across the 12 months to August 2025, UK exports of goods and services together reached about £923.6 billion, up 5.5% on the previous year. Imports rose too, but slightly more slowly at 4.7%.

So this wasn’t a collapse. The problem is where that growth came from.

By the year to May 2025, the share of goods in total exports had dropped to a record low of around 40.8%, down from roughly two-thirds at the turn of the century. Services made up the other 59.2%, and they were growing at about 7.3% a year while goods exports were shrinking by roughly 5.4% in real terms.

In other words: the UK is still selling plenty to the world – just not as many physical things.

A stop–start year for goods exporters

If you only looked at July, you might think 2025 was a comeback year for manufacturers.

That month, the value of goods exports jumped by £1.9 billion (6.6%), with sales up to both the EU and the rest of the world. After adjusting for inflation, volumes were up just over 5%.

Then the bounce faded.

• In August, goods exports fell £1.1 billion (3.3%), with declines to both EU and non-EU markets.
• In September, they dropped another £1.7 billion (5.5%) to £29.4 billion, again down to both EU and non-EU destinations. The goods deficit widened to around £20.7 billion that month.

So the story for 2025 isn’t one of steady recovery. It’s a lurching pattern: a strong mid-summer, followed by two pretty grim months that reminded everyone how fragile UK goods exports still are.

The US went cold – especially on “made in Britain”

The most obvious sore spot was the United States.

In September, exports of goods to the US – including precious metals – fell by £0.5 billion (11.4%), taking them to their lowest level since January 2022, after a new round of US tariffs earlier in the year.

The US still matters enormously. In the four quarters to Q2 2025, total UK exports to America were about £204.3 billion, up 3.7% on the year. But dig into the mix and you see the problem:

• Goods exports to the US were down 5.9%,
• Services exports were up 8.7%, making up nearly 69% of everything the UK sells into that market.

So the UK’s “special relationship” in trade is increasingly a services one – finance, legal, tech, creative – while cars, chemicals and machinery are feeling the squeeze.

Europe stayed central – but not for everyone

Despite Brexit, the EU is still the UK’s biggest collective customer. In 2024, it took about 41% of all UK exports of goods and services.

More recent numbers actually look better than many expected. In the 12 months to June 2025, exports of goods and services to the EU hit £377 billion, up 6% in cash terms and 5% after inflation. Within that, services exports to the EU reached a record £198 billion.

But the averages hide some pretty brutal sector stories. Food and drink is the obvious one: by 2024, UK food and drink exports to the EU were still 34% down on pre-Brexit levels, according to the Food and Drink Federation, largely thanks to new paperwork and border friction.

Steel is staring at its own cliff edge, with the EU moving towards 50% tariffs and tighter quotas on imports – a huge problem for an industry that sends roughly three-quarters of its exports across the Channel.

So yes, Europe is buying more from the UK overall – especially in services – but some traditional export sectors are still stuck in a post-Brexit ditch.

Services: the bit that’s actually working

If there was one clear “good news” chapter in 2025, it was services.

Across the 12 months to June 2025:

• Services exports to the EU were up 16% to £198.1 billion.
• Services exports to non-EU countries rose 11.5% to £336.9 billion.

That covers everything from banking and law to IT, design, education and film.

This isn’t just a statistical quirk. It shows up in the trade balance too. In 2024, the UK ran a £211 billion deficit in goods, partly offset by a £186 billion surplus in services, leaving a relatively modest overall trade deficit of £25 billion.

By 2025, that tilt had become even more pronounced: goods volumes at a 15-year low in real terms, services at record highs.

Put bluntly: without services, the UK’s export performance would look grim.

Under the radar: who is actually exporting?

One quietly interesting shift is at firm level. ONS survey work suggests that around 22% of UK businesses with 10 or more staff exported goods, services or both in the 12 months to April 2025.

That’s not just multinationals and City firms. It’s a long tail of mid-sized manufacturers, software companies, agencies and niche producers sending regular shipments to Dublin, Dubai or Denver.

Given how volatile the big monthly goods numbers have been, that slow broadening of the export base might be the most hopeful line in the whole dataset.

So what was 2025 for UK exports, really?

Not a disaster, not a boom – more like a gear change that isn’t finished yet.

• Total exports grew, but mainly thanks to services.
• Goods exporters endured a stop–start year, capped by a nasty run in August and September and new trade barriers in key markets.
• The US cooled on British goods, even as it bought more British services.
• Europe quietly re-emerged as a growth market, while still being a headache for specific sectors like food, drink and steel.

If you’re looking for a simple headline, you won’t find one. The honest summary is this:

Britain didn’t stop exporting in 2025 – it just carried on becoming a country that sells expertise and experiences far more easily than it sells things in boxes.