The above shows a lower share for the UK than is often quoted. That’s because the above includes goods that EU countries buy from each other, as well as the rest of the world. What is clear is that UK exports lost market share in quarter 1 quite dramatically, by 31%.

We won’t know for sure if that will recover later until all the figures are published but for those EU countries who have published import figures for quarter two, the data is not encouraging. For Germany, there is an apparent loss of market share of more than 15% in the first half of 2022. The figure for The Netherlands is 25% and for Ireland, UK exporters share has fallen by a full 50%.

France, however, bucks the trend. UK companies lost market share in quarter one but then recovered strongly in quarter two to achieve a share not seen since 2019. France may be a special case, as most exports using road transport enter France as their first point of entry to the EU and it’s possible that more goods are being cleared through French customs before moving in free circulation to other EU countries.

So, there’s still some guesswork. We know from the clients that we work with that many companies have been grappling with the new arrangements since the start of the year, but Brexit does make it more complicated to trade with the EU than it was when we were part of the Customs Union. There’s early evidence to suggest that change may be causing British exporters to lose market share. Can that be reversed?

We’ll be keeping a close eye on the numbers, and we’ll let you know what we find.

In the meantime, we’d be interested to know what you think. Do leave us a comment or get in touch.

While you are here you may be interested in some Strong & Herd LLP training courses related to this 

topic, we offer a wide range of high quality training courses to support all importing and exporting activities. 

Trading with the EU - Customs

Trading with the EU - Trade Matters

Creating a Winning Export Strategy