UK Laptop Imports vs Exports (2019–2025): Is It a One-Way Trade?

As someone running a laptop import business in India — sourcing devices from Dubai and distributing them locally — I’ve often considered expanding into new markets. One market that stood out was the United Kingdom, given its robust consumer demand and digital infrastructure.

But before making any decisions, I needed answers to a few critical questions:

• Does the UK primarily import or export laptops?

• What are the trends over time — are imports growing or declining?

• Which countries are the UK’s key trade partners for laptops?

• And most importantly, is there an opportunity in the UK for someone like me?

To answer these, I turned to publicly available trade datasets, focusing on laptops..

The raw data, however, was far from analysis-ready. It spanned several years, included mixed trade flows (imports, exports, re-exports, re-imports, domestic exports), and had inconsistent values, especially in CIF and FOB fields. Cleaning and organizing it was a significant step before any real insight could be drawn.

Using Microsoft Power BI, I developed a comprehensive dashboard that visualizes UK laptop trade flows from 2019 to early 2025, comparing imports and exports, country-level partnerships, trade values, and seasonal patterns.

This blog post presents both the journey and the findings — beginning with data preparation and culminating in a visual dashboard that aims to answer the central question:

“UK Laptop Imports vs Exports (2019–2025): Is It a One-Way Trade?”

📊 Dashboard Walkthrough

The dashboard was designed in Power BI to highlight key patterns in the UK’s laptop trade between 2019 and 2025. It is structured from top to bottom for intuitive exploration — starting with filters, followed by trend visuals, KPIs, and finally detailed country-level insights.

Here’s a breakdown of the main components:

• 🔘 Slicers (Filters)

  • Year Selector — Filter visuals by specific year or view all at once.

  • Trade Type — Toggle between Import, Export, or both.

  • Country — Drill down into a specific partner nation.

• 📈 Line Chart: Import vs Export Trend (Yearly)

  • Shows annual movement of laptop quantities from 2019–2025.

  • Clear visual evidence of imports far outpacing exports.

  • 2021 marked a peak in overall trade, likely due to post-pandemic tech demand.

• 📊 Column Chart: Trade by Month (Across All Years)

  • Aggregated monthly trend reveals November as the busiest import month — likely driven by holiday and Black Friday sales.

  • Exports showed no strong seasonality, remaining relatively stable.

• 🌍 Top Trade Partners (Bar Chart)

  • Lists the top countries by quantity and value.

  • China leads UK imports by a large margin.

  • Export volumes are comparatively low and dispersed among multiple countries.

• 📌 KPI Tiles

  • Total Imports (Qty)

  • Total Exports (Qty)

  • Total Trade Value (USD)

  • KPIs are fully dynamic — they update based on slicer selections.

• 📋 Matrix Table: Country-wise Import/Export Comparison

  • Comprehensive table comparing:

    • Quantity

    • Trade Value

    • Unit Price

  • Grouped by Trade Type and Country.

  • Ideal for deeper analysis, spotting anomalies, or export opportunities.

💾 Dataset Overview

To explore UK laptop trade patterns, I sourced data from the United Nations Comtrade Database, using the Harmonized System (HS) code 847130. This code specifically represents:

"Portable digital automatic data processing machines, weighing not more than 10 kg, consisting of at least a central processing unit, a keyboard, and a display."

This includes most types of laptops and notebooks traded internationally.

The dataset covers a monthly breakdown from January 2019 to early 2025, giving a complete 6-year view of how trade activity has shifted over time — pre-pandemic, during the pandemic, and post-recovery periods.

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📊 Key Columns Used

Here are the main fields extracted from the raw dataset:

Column Name	Description
refYear / refMonth	Year and month of trade
flowDesc	Trade type (Import or Export)
partnerDesc	Partner country name
cmdCode / cmdDesc	Commodity code and description
qty	Quantity of laptops traded
netWgt	Net weight in kilograms
cifvalue / fobvalue	Value of trade in USD (CIF for imports, FOB for exports)

To calculate the unit price per laptop, I derived a new field:

UnitPriceUSD = CIF or FOB value / Quantity

This allowed for a clearer comparison between countries and trade types over time.

📚 Data Source

The data used in this project comes from the official UN Comtrade Database, an authoritative global repository for trade statistics maintained by the United Nations.

We specifically queried records related to:

• Reporter: United Kingdom (UK)

• Commodity Code: 847130 – Portable digital automatic data processing machines (laptops)

• Time Period: January 2019 to March 2025

• Trade Flow: Import and Export (excluding re-imports and domestic exports)

🔗 Direct access to the UN Comtrade Query Portal

The dataset was downloaded in monthly batches and compiled into a unified format for analysis.

📂 Dataset Versions

To support transparency, I’ve made both versions of the dataset publicly available:

• 📁 Raw Dataset (CSV)

• 📁 Cleaned Dataset (CSV)

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🧹 Data Cleaning Process

To prepare the dataset for meaningful analysis, the following steps were taken using Power BI's Power Query Editor:

• Removed trade types not relevant for international comparison:

  • ❌ Domestic Export

  • ❌ Re-Import

• Combined monthly trade data (2019 to 2025) into a single dataset using Append Queries.

• Dropped columns with no usable data:

• Added a new column to calculate unit price per laptop:

  • UnitPriceUSD = Trade Value (USD) / Quantity

  • Used cifvalue for imports and fobvalue for exports.

• Filtered out invalid or unhelpful rows:

  • Rows where qty = 0

  • Rows where cifvalue or fobvalue = 0

  • Aggregated entries like partnerDesc = "World"

• Renamed columns for clarity in Power BI visuals:

  • flowDesc → TradeType

  • partnerDesc → Country

The cleaned dataset is now structured, filtered, and optimized for KPI tracking, trend visualization, and partner-country comparisons.

🌟 Key Highlights from the Dashboard

Here are some of the most interesting insights that emerged from the interactive analysis:

• Consistent Trade Imbalance: The UK has consistently imported more laptops than it exported from 2019 to 2025, reinforcing the idea of a one-way trade.

• Peak Import Periods: Import volumes spiked in specific months, particularly during the pandemic and end-of-year seasons, possibly driven by increased remote work and holiday demand.

• Main Import Partners: The UK imported the majority of its laptops from countries like China, the Netherlands, and Vietnam.

• Export Surges: While smaller in volume, exports showed occasional surges to countries such as Neitherland, Ireland, and UAE.

• Unit Price Trends: Import unit prices were generally lower than export unit prices, hinting at potential re-export strategies or value-added exports.

🧠 Conclusion: Is It a One-Way Trade?

Based on the data from 2019 to 2025, the answer appears to be yes — at least for now.

The UK’s laptop trade is heavily skewed toward imports, with more than 125 million units imported over the period and only a fraction exported in comparison. China remains the dominant supplier, while UK exports are scattered, relatively low, and inconsistent.

There are a few possible reasons for this imbalance:

• The UK lacks large-scale laptop manufacturing facilities.

• It's a high-consumption, tech-forward market with strong import demand.

• Some exports may involve re-exports of refurbished or excess stock.

This trade pattern reflects the UK’s role as a technology consumer more than a producer — a dynamic worth noting for anyone considering entering this space, whether as an importer, supplier, or logistics player.

The interactive dashboard allows you to filter by year, country, trade type, and region — so feel free to explore the patterns that matter most to you.

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⚠️ Limitations

While the dashboard provides rich insight, a few limitations should be kept in mind:

• No Brand or Model-Level Detail: The HS code represents all laptops collectively. We can’t distinguish Apple from HP or high-end from budget laptops.

• Missing or Zero Values: Some entries included 0 quantity or value. These were removed, but small inconsistencies may remain.

• CIF vs FOB Differences: Import values use CIF (cost + insurance + freight) and export values use FOB (free on board), which aren’t directly comparable without adjustment.

• Limited Forecasting or Predictive Modeling: This dashboard is descriptive, not predictive. Trends are historical — not projections.

Despite these, the dataset still offers valuable, real-world insight into the UK’s international laptop trade landscape.