Trade deficit hits record high

Shipments from non-EU countries are booming

Rocketing levels of imports from countries outside the European Union helped the deficit in Britain's foreign trade in goods hit a record high in 2000, official figures show.

The UK's trade deficit in all sectors except service industries reached £28.7bn last year, up from £26.2bn in 1999.

The gap was exacerbated by unequal growth in trade with non-EU countries, with exports of goods rising by 17% and imports rocketing by 21%.

In commerce with EU countries, exports grew by 9.5% and imports by 5%.

Future movement

The trade deficit is only likely to grow further, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

"The latest estimate of trend suggests that the UK deficit is widening," the ONS said on Friday.

A 2.5% fall in exports helped the deficit in trade in goods reach £2.8bn in December alone, the ONS said.

But the figure was in line with economists' forecasts, and was not blamed by analysts for another fall in UK shares on Friday morning.

Car trade strong

The total trade deficit, including data from service industries, came in £1.9bn in December, the highest figure since July.

Exports of cars proved particularly strong towards the end of last year, rising 6% between October and December. Car imports grew by less than 1%.

The balance on trade in services remained stable at a surplus of between £0.8bn and £0.9bn during the last half of the year.