UK’s chemical industry has been witnessing growth, despite the differences in the value of the imports and exports of the most valued commodity in the section—fatty acids. The market of fatty acids has been a robust and essential one due to its application in various other sectors.
Fatty acid is a valuable commodity in the wide range of Organic Chemicals (Chapter 29). It is mostly derived from natural sources, and this compound is also known as “carboxylic acids”. The trade of the UK with countries for this acid in different forms can be analysed from the data below.
Among The UK’s Top Exports
The UK’s chemical industry is among the top 15 exports of the UK, as per the UK export data 2022. The miscellaneous chemical products ranked at the 13th position with a total export value of $7.94 billion, while the exports of organic chemicals amounted to $12.6 billion at the 10th position.
Organic Chemicals Trade
Since fatty acid is the focus of the study, and it comes under the “Organic Chemicals (Chapter 29)”, the below data features the yearly values of organic chemicals trade in the past five years, following the imports and exports from 2018 to 2022.
The imports and exports of organic chemicals in the past five years amounted to—$10.6 billion and $11.3 billion in 2018, $10.1 billion and $12.6 billion in 2019, $9.5 billion and $12.4 billion in 2020, $11.6 billion and $11 billion in 2021, and $14.2 billion and $12.6 billion in 2022.
The Two Major Types and Trade
Organic chemicals have different acidic compounds that are used in different industries and hence for different applications. Fatty acids are a vital compound because of their widespread application such as soap, detergents, lubricants, resins, additives, and emulsifier agents.
While there are different types of fatty acids, the main two types are saturated fatty acid and unsaturated fatty acid. The shown below datasets feature the yearly values, from 2018 to 2022, for Saturated Fatty Acids [Heading 2915] and Unsaturated Fatty Acids [Heading 2916].
The trade for the UK’s saturated fatty acids shows the featured values declining following 2019 and stood at $595.1 million for imports and $381.1 million for exports in 2022. The year 2022 registered an increase of 19.23% in imports and a decrease of 6.70% in exports.
The trade for the UK’s unsaturated fatty acids shows the import values declining following 2019, while the export surged high and stood at $191.2 million in 2022, showing an increase of 35.50%. On the other hand, the imports stood at $394.3 million in 2022—an increase of 46.13%.
UK’s Chemical Industry Growth
The chemical industry in the UK registered growth in the pandemic year (2020) and has been showing promising growth but with an ambiguous future. As seen in the trade data of organic chemicals from the UK, imports and exports both increased in 2022. However, the imports in 2021 increased while exports declined, followed by a minor growth in the exports of 2022.
Trade registered increased values of imports and exports for saturated fatty acids. On the other hand, the imports were higher than the exports of unsaturated fatty acids following the year 2020. Both saturated and unsaturated fatty acids registered growth for the imports in 2022, however, the exports of saturated fatty acids declined.
Due to fatty acids’ application, the UK’s chemical industry holds great potential concerning market growth and contribution to global trade. UK’s chemical industry can be reaching heights as it is already among the top valued exported commodities by the UK, as per UK’s export data 2022. With the government’s involvement in the UK’s chemical industry, the growth is certain.
