CARIFORUM and UK EPA Study

Data for St. Lucia 22 indicated that the country had a trade deficit with the UK, with its most significant export to the UK being vegetables and fruit, which also registered a significant decline over five years (2005 to 2020) of 50%. The performances of both Belize and St. Lucia, thus, provide an interesting snapshot of the overall performance of CF trade with the UK, highlighting the declining participation of these countries within the UK market. Byron (2019) 23 in fact noted that, “BREXIT has highlighted the fact that few CARIFORUM countries have fully exploited their market access to the EU. It presents both the opportunity and the imperative to strengthen relations with a wider range of EU member countries and to work on market penetration and gaining competitiveness in these economies.” However, the evidence of their actual market participation rate suggests that stronger trading relations with the UK has benefited UK exporters over CF exporters in the most recent years of the PoA (Post 2015). The DTI (2019), based on Office of National Statistics (ONS) data, has noted that if the region were viewed as single economy, it would be the UK’s 55 th largest trading partner, with its trade with the UK (excluding Haiti) representing 0.2% of the UK’s total trade in 2019.

Table 9: UK World Imports by Value 2019 to 2020

Commodity

Value 2019

Value 2020

% of Total

£ million

£ million

UK Goods Imports in 2020

1 Cars

33 705 23 743 20 790 19 619

26 498 22 071 20 477 18 413

6.3 5.2 4.9 4.4

2 Medicinal & pharmaceutical products

3 Clothing

4 Telecoms & sound equipment (capital)

22 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. 23 https://journals.openedition.org/etudescaribeennes/14705#tocto2n1

Page 51 of 241