International Trade and Freight Analysis

What do West Yorkshire’s businesses import and export and who are the sub-region’s overseas trading partners? Which overseas markets offer the greatest opportunities for growth in the sub-region’s exports?  

How much freight is transported to, from and within the sub-region and how does its trade enter and leave the country? How much large-scale warehousing is there in West Yorkshire and how has its market share changed over the last few years? 

• Analysed official HMRC Regional Trade Statistics for West Yorkshire and its constituent local authorities for 2019 and 2023; broke down the sub-region’s trade in 2019 and 2023 to a more detailed commodity level, based on an innovative statistical technique that uses both HMRC sources and land use data.
• Provided a statistical description of the trading companies in West Yorkshire and an assessment of the trading risk for the larger exporting businesses.
• Provided analysis from the proprietary World Cargo Database (WCD) of the major potential global markets for West Yorkshire’s key export commodities; concluded on the extent to which the key export commodities could be regarded as risky as a result of Brexit and the introduction of the Trump tariffs in 2025.
• Used data from the proprietary Great Britain Freight Model (GBFM) to analyse freight movements to, from and within West Yorkshire, including to and from ports of entry for international flows.
• Quantified the amount, and market share, of large-scale warehousing in the sub-region compared with surrounding areas based on data from the proprietary Warehouse Database.
  
  

The research study was completed to inform the development of the sub-region’s trade policy and help the WYCA support its exporting businesses.