CARIFORUM and UK EPA Study

largest shares of UK total imports, were Trinidad and Tobago, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Jamaica, Belize, and Barbados.

In terms of total CF exports to the UK over the period of analysis, the rankings were the same (by value), with these six CF partners representing the main exporters to the United Kingdom.

Taking a closer look at those countries for which the UK is a top 5 market can provide insights into state of CF-UK trade. According to UNCTAD’s General Profiles only Belize and St. Lucia saw the UK rank as one of their top 5 markets, suggesting that the UK is not a preferred destination for exports from CARIFORUM. In fact, other EU markets such as France and Poland appeared as many times in CF countries top five list of export markets, led by Germany overall. Data from the ONS 20 , for Belize indicates that in 2020 it enjoyed a trade surplus with the UK, with exports to the UK of approximately 57 million pounds sterling, compared to imports of approximately 7 million pounds sterling. The main commodities traded by Belize, generally reflected the main products 21 traded with all CARIFORUM over the period of analysis. The Top 5 exports to the UK were Vegetables and Fruits, Sugar, Wood and cork manufactures, animal feed and beverages, respectively. The top exported products - Vegetables and Fruits and sugars, however, registered declines over five years (2005 to 2020) of 6% and 53%, respectively.

20 This data was taken from the ONS’s online interactive tool for the relevant country( accessed October 2021). Data reported elsewhere were taken from the ONS’s ‘Trade in goods: country by commodity, imports and exports’ datasets, October 2021 release.

21 It should be noted that data on product lines taken from the ITC were classified under the HS system, where as some data was classified under SITC.

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