There was a fall in exports of £0.3 billion and a fall in imports of £0.1 billion. Exports of consumer goods other than cars to non-EU countries rose but exports of chemicals, oil, and intermediate goods fell.
There was an increase in imports of consumer goods other than cars but this was more than offset by falls in imports of oil, and fuels other than oil.
Excluding oil and erratic items, the volume of exports fell by one per cent between September and October and the volume of imports fell by two per cent.