The table presents information on the United Kingdom’s top five exports in 2020, showing their value in US dollars and the percentage change from 2019, while the bar chart illustrates the share of exports sent to the European Union between 2000 and 2020.
Overall, cars were the leading export by value, though they saw one of the sharpest declines, whereas medication was the only category to grow. Moreover, the proportion of exports to the EU fell steadily over the period.
Among the five categories, cars ranked first in 2020, valued at $26.8 billion, despite recording one of the steepest declines (30.7%). Gold and turbojets followed, worth $21 billion and $20.3 billion respectively, both showing significant decreases of 9.8% and 23.2%. In contrast, medication, at $18.3 billion, was the only category to experience growth, with a marginal rise of 1.6%. Crude oil had the lowest export value at $16.1 billion and suffered the second largest drop of 31.9%.
In 2000, approximately 55% of UK exports were directed to the EU. This proportion declined steadily throughout the period, falling below 50% in the mid-2010s and reaching just above 40% by 2020.