Business sites and employees linked to international trade in the Greater West of England, 2023

11 Mar 2026

This data insight describes the scale of international trade across the Greater West of England, the South West and the UK. It examines the number of local business sites and employees linked to exporting and importing activity in 2023.

The Greater West of England is a bespoke geography defined here as Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, Gloucestershire, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Swindon and Wiltshire.

The South West of England region is one of 12 International Territorial Level 1 areas (ITL1) in the UK, comprising Gloucestershire and Wiltshire; West of England; North Somerset, Somerset and Dorset; Devon; and Cornwall and Isles of Scilly.

In some areas, nearly two-thirds of employees are linked to firms involved in importing and around half of all employees work in businesses trading both European Union (EU) and non-EU markets. Across the regions, importer-linked activity consistently exceeds exporter-linked activity.

By breaking results down by market type (EU only, EU and non-EU, and non-EU only) and by local authority, the indicators show where trade is most concentrated.

The data is sourced from HM Revenue and Custom’s (HMRC’s) trade-linked business statistics, which identify local sites of VAT/PAYE registered enterprises that export or import goods. These sites are linked to administrative trade records and employment data, enabling analysis of both the number of trading locations and the share of employees working within them.

+1,308

Gloucestershire has the highest number of importer sites compared to its exporter total (4,588 vs 3,280)

17.7%

Percentage of business sites in the South West that are linked to importing, compared to 13.1% linked to exporting

64.9%

Percentage of employees in Swindon linked to importing activity, the highest share across the South West

Local sites in the Greater West of England area linked to importers and exporters, 2023

This visualisation shows the number of business sites in the Greater West of England area linked to exporters and importers in 2023, broken down by market type.

Importers outnumber exporters in every area and across all market types, with Gloucestershire having the largest difference overall (1,308) and Swindon the lowest (275).

Across all regions, businesses trading with both EU and non-EU markets form the largest group for both exporters and importers, with Gloucestershire recording 1,982 exporter sites and 2,278 importer sites in this category.

Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire collectively record 1,919 exporters and 2,372 importers. In contrast, non-EU only sites are consistently the smallest group. There are 102 exporter sites in Swindon and 146 importer sites in Wiltshire.

The data suggests that the Greater West of England area trade activity is more import oriented than export.

Comparisons of the extent of local sites linked to trade, 2023

This visualisation shows the percentage of registered sites in 2023 that are linked to exporting and importing across the Greater West of England, the South West and the UK, broken down by market type.

Across all areas, import activity is more prevalent than exports, with the South West recording 17.7% of sites linked to importing, compared to 13.1% linked to exporting. Swindon’s exporter trading with both EU and non-EU markets (11.1%) is well above the South West average (8.1%) and the UK (7.34%).

For importers, Swindon records the highest combined EU and non-EU share at 13.2%, compared to 9.8% across the South West and 9.41% nationally. Gloucestershire has the highest EU-only importer share at 6.9%, exceeding both the South West (5.7%) and UK (5.82%) averages. Non-EU activity is consistently the smallest component across all areas.

Greater West of England employees, exporters and importers, 2023

This visualisation shows the number of employees working in registered business sites in the Greater West of England in 2023 that are linked to exporting and importing, broken down by market type.

Import-linked employment exceeds export-linked employment in every area, especially Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire (148,814 versus 115,093 respectively).

Across all areas, employment is highest in businesses trading with both EU and non-EU markets. Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire collectively has 82,061 exporter employees and 105,774 importer employees in this category.

Swindon and Wiltshire record the lowest totals overall, particularly in non-EU only export (3,687 and 3,423 respectively). The non-EU only market type is the smallest component across all local authority areas.

Greater West of England employees, exporters and importers (% of total)

This visualisation shows the percentage of total employees in 2023 that are linked to exporting and importing across the Greater West of England, the South West and the UK, broken down by market type.

Across the South West, import-linked employment accounts for a larger share of total employees than export-linked employment. 49.4% of employees in the South West are employed at importer-linked sites, compared to 39.5% at exporter-linked sites.