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Plant Health – international trade and controlled consignments, 2019-2023 – Defra statistics publication
Key findings
Between 2019 and 2023, the overall value of trade in plants and plant commodities increased by £3.4bn whilst the net mass decreased by 374k tonnes. Such trends were not always linear due to the volatile nature of the trade, which can be affected by climate events, pest and disease and other factors, including methodological changes to the data collection.
Over the period 2019-2023 there was a big drop in the exports of plants and planting materials, but this was balanced by increases in forestry exports which led to a slight increase in overall exports of £111 million. In 2023, exports only made up 9.7% of total trade value, a decrease from 11.3% in 2019.
In 2023, trade with the EU accounted for 60% of the total value of trade in plants and plant commodities, and 66% of overall net mass. EU imports accounted for 52% of total trade value and 48% of total trade net mass in 2023.
There were over 695,500 consignments notified to the Plant Health and Seeds Inspectorate (PHSI) in 2023, an increase from over 479,300 in 2022 and over 246,000 in 2021. These changes were driven by the phasing in of plant health controls on imports from the EU.
In 2023/24, just under 3,500 consignments of controlled material were notified to the Forestry Commission. Consignments of softwood were at the lowest level of the time period in this year whilst consignments of hardwood were at the highest level.