Lesson video

Hello, my name's Miss Gillette and I'm your geography teacher for today.

In today's lesson, we are going to be learning about the UK's imports and exports, which is the sixth lesson of the Globalisation topic.

So your lesson outcome for today is that you can describe the UK's main imports and exports and explain why we trade those products.

We've got four keywords for today's lesson.

So the first one is trade, which is the buying, selling, or exchanging of things between people, companies and countries.

And imports are goods and services brought in from another country.

Exports, goods and services sold to another country.

And manufacturing is the making of goods on a large scale, often using machinery.

We've got two learning cycles.

So the first one we're gonna learn about is who does the UK actually trade with? And then we're gonna think about what the UK's main imports and exports are.

So let's get going with our first learning cycle, looking at who does the UK trade with? So as a quick reminder, trade is the buying, selling, or exchanging things between people.

Now we trade things including goods.

So these are physical things that people can buy.

So for example, when you go to the supermarket and you buy your food for the week, those are goods, those are physical things, but we can also trade services.

Now these are things that people can do, or use.

So travel, education and banking would be examples of services.

A lot of things that we buy in the UK come from other countries in the world, and these are called imports.

So they're things that are coming from another country into the UK, okay? So we import goods and services from all around the world.

Now I want you to have a think, why do you think we import goods from other countries? Why do you not think that we just make them all ourselves? Pause the video and have a chat with your partner.

Why do we import goods from other countries? Okay, there are actually a few different reasons why we might import a good rather than create it and make it ourselves.

So the first one is that a country might not be able to make, or do those things themselves, in particular food.

So for example, most of the UK, the bananas that we eat, come from different countries.

Now that is because we cannot grow bananas because of our climate.

It's too cold, okay? So that's one major reason why we can't make them ourselves.

It also might be cheaper to buy these goods and services from other countries.

So often some products may be cheaper and more efficient to make in another country of the world.

So it's cheaper to buy them, than it is to make them ourselves.

And finally, the goods and services from another country might be of a better quality.

So we might choose to buy it in, rather than make it if we know we're gonna get better products if we buy it from somewhere else.

Okay, let's check our understanding.

So what are imports? Things that we grow in the UK and sell to other countries.

B, things manufactured in other countries and sold to people in the UK, or C, things we manufacture in the UK and sell to other countries? The answer is B.

So things manufactured in other countries and sold to people in the UK.

Now, we also sell UK goods and services all over the world.

These are called exports.

We are exporting them out of our country into another.

A lot of the goods are shipped to other countries on huge cargo ships.

So I've got a picture of one on the boards.

It's a massive ship filled with lots of containers, which in those containers have got lots of different goods which are being exported out.

So I've got a question for you there.

Why might exporting goods and services be good for a country? So think about the country that it's coming from.

Why do you think it might be good for that country to export goods around the world? Okay, so exporting things to other countries can help the businesses and companies selling these goods and services to grow bigger.

So for example, if you had a company that worked in the UK and then it decided to start selling goods abroad as well, that means it's got a greater market audience and therefore it can sell more products and make more money.

It can also create more jobs and also make more money for governments to use to run the country.

Okay? So when a country buys a good from abroad, it has to pay a tax and that money goes to the government, which can help run services like education and healthcare.

So true or false? Exports can help countries make money.

That is of course true.

And can you tell me why? True, because they sell products to other countries and therefore that country has made a bit of money.

So well done if you got that right.

Now the UK trades with many countries all over the world.

The UK's top trading partners are the USA, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, France and China.

Over 50% of the UK trade is with European Union countries.

Okay? You might have heard of them being called EU countries.

Okay? So on the slide there, we've got a world map which shows where some of our main trading relationship countries are from.

Okay? So I've got the USA, Ireland, France, Netherlands, Germany and China.

Now, this figure shows the main countries the UK exported to in 2024.

Now before I explain the figure, pause the video and see if you can figure out how it's showing and what it's showing for yourself.

Okay, so the larger the circle, the larger the value of the export.

So we can see there, the largest circle that the UK is exporting to is the United States.

And we've got it number one.

So it's exported 188.

2 billion pounds worth of goods and services to the US in 2024.

The second greatest receiver of UK exports was Germany.

The third was Ireland, the fourth was the Netherlands, and the fifth was France.

Okay, so we can see again there that the number in the circle ranks the countries from one there to 20.

So 20 Luxembourg.

So Luxembourg received 11.

4 billion pounds worth of exports from the UK.

Okay, let's check our understanding.

So which country is the top receiver of UK exports? Is it A, China, B, France, C, Australia, or D, USA? The answer is the USA.

So well done if you remembered that correct.

Now, so I've got a similar figure here.

However, this time it's showing that the main countries that the UK imports from, so these are goods and services going into the UK, not going out of the UK.

But again, the figure works the same.

So the larger the circle, the larger the value of the imports and the number in the circle ranks the countries.

So number one again, is the United States, okay? So we receive 116.

1 billion pounds worth of goods and services from the UK in 2024.

Our second greatest country that we imported goods from was Germany.

Okay? Can you see number three there? Oh yeah, there it is, the Netherlands.

Number four was France, and five was China.

So we received 55.

7 billion pounds worth of goods from China in 2024.

Okay, let's check what we've remembered there.

So which country does the UK receive the most imports from? A, China, B, France, C, Australia, or D the USA? The answer was D, USA.

Now here we've got the two figures of exports and imports of the UK next to each other.

Okay? So be careful, even though these two figures look very, very similar, they are showing two very different things.

Okay? But what I'd like you to do, is look at these two figures together and what do you notice about the top countries that the UK exports to and the top countries that the UK imports from? So pause the video and have a quick chat with your partner.

If you are working on your own, it might be worth scribbling a few notes.

Okay? What do you notice about looking at these two figures together? Okay, so you may have noticed that some of the top countries that the UK exports to, it also imports a lot from.

So the biggest one there is the United States.

So we export 188.

2 billion pounds worth to the country in 2024, but it was also our greatest thing that we imported goods from.

Okay? You'll also notice that a lot of our top countries of exports and imports are EU countries.

Now the UK used to be part of the European Union, also in the EU.

Now the European Union is a group of 27 countries which worked together with common goals and have special trading relationship.

Now, you might have already heard this, but in 2016 the UK voted to leave the European Union, which was a process known as Brexit, but the UK still trades with many EU countries.

Okay, so we're onto our first task for the lesson.

So for task A one, you need to use the figure to work out the top three countries receiving exports from the UK.

Work out the total value of exports from the top three countries.

And for the third question, over 50% of the UK trade is with EU countries.

Can you explain why? Pause the video and have a go at those three questions.

Okay, let's go through the answers.

So the top three countries receiving exports from the UK is, number one was the USA, number two was Germany, and number three was Ireland.

Now the total value of those exports was 304.

5 billion pounds.

So well done if you've got that correct.

Okay.

Now over 50% of the UK's trade is with EU countries, so this is why you might not have put exactly this, but hopefully you should be along these lines.

The UK used to be part of the European Union.

In 2016, the UK voted to leave the EU known as Brexit, but the UK still trades with many EU countries, also because countries in the EU are the closest to the UK, it is easier to trade with them as goods will not need to be transported as far, okay? So it might be worth pausing the video and adding any extra detail to your answer there.

Okay, let's get going with our second learning cycle, looking at what are the UK's main imports and exports? Now, not all countries import and export the same things or the same amount of things, okay? We can look at import and export data to see how much and what things different countries are importing and exporting.

Okay? So what's going out of the country and what is going into a country? Now, some of the main things that the UK exports include cars and aircraft, machinery, oil, medication, financial services and travel services.

Okay? So we've got a mixture there of actual services, but also goods as well.

Some of the main things that the UK imports include some foods, clothing, fuel, some drinks, travel services and business services.

Now, this is where it gets a little bit confusing.

So some of the main things that the UK imports, it also exports, okay? So foods grown or manufactured in the UK can be exported, whilst foods grown or manufactured in other countries can be imported, okay? So we might export some things that we also import ourselves, which does seem a little bit strange, but this is why.

So this means that we can still eat fresh fruit and vegetables all year round, even when they don't grow in the UK in winter, or don't grow in the UK at all.

So for example, I love to eat strawberries in the summer.

So in the summer the UK grows lots of strawberries, which we either eat ourselves and we might even export those to some of the countries in the world.

However in the winter, we can't grow strawberries because it's too cold to grow them.

So that we'll import them at that time of year because some people like to eat strawberries in the winter as well, okay? So, even though if you might have one good that you import at one time of the year and you export it at another time.

Now we've got a bar chart on the slide here, which shows the top UK goods exported.

And this is by valuing billions of pounds.

Okay? So the top one being mechanical power generators accounting to 34.

5 billion pounds, wow, quite a lot of money.

Now, so those are the top UK exports.

So it might be worth just pausing the video and just absorbing that information.

Now, what do you notice about the top exported goods? So look at those top couple of ones that we export.

What do you notice about them? So you might have seen that they are manufactured goods.

Okay? So either something to do with engineering cars and pharmaceutical products, those are all things that are produced and made.

Now, these are the top things that the UK imports by value again.

So it's not the amount, but it's the value of the good.

Okay? So the top one being cars, counting 38.

8 billion pounds worth of cars.

Okay? So that's how much money it accounts for.

Right, so I've got a question there.

Why do you think that cars are higher up on the list than fruit and vegetables? Okay? So pause the video and have a think.

Why do you think cars are higher up on the list than fruit and vegetables? Okay, Sofia's got an answer here.

So even though the UK imports more fruit and vegetables than cars, cars are of much higher value and therefore account for a greater proportion of the imports in terms of value.

Okay, Sofia's absolutely spot on there.

So even though we import more in terms of numbers of fruit and veg, actually a car is a lot more expensive and therefore it accounts for more of a higher value.

Okay, so here's a question to check our understanding.

Which of the following does the UK export? A cars, B medication, or C bananas? Now the answer is cars and also medication.

We don't export bananas.

Okay, we're onto task B now.

So on the slide here, there is a table, okay? About the top five UK service imports.

So these not about physical goods, but the services that we export to different countries.

So we've got business services, financial ones, travel, telecoms, computer and information services and transport services.

Now, in the other column, it shows the value of those.

So our main service that we export is business, okay? And that accounts for 170.

8 billion pounds.

What I would like you to do, is you are going to use this information to create a bar chart on the UK's top five service exports.

So pause the video and have a go at creating your bar chart.

Okay, your second question, is you're going to use the answer in the table to answer the following math questions.

Now you can use a calculator for this.

So for question two A, what is the total value of the UK's top five service exports? Question two B, what is the average value of the UK's top five service exports? Okay? And for question two, C what is the range in value of the top five UK exports? So pause the video and have a go at those maths based questions.

Okay, so your bar chart should look a little bit like this.

Make sure that your bar chart has got the X and the Y axis labelled.

Your bar chart as well should have a title.

Now, another thing to be careful when you do a bar chart, your actual bars should have a little gap in between, so they shouldn't be touching each other.

So it might be worth pausing the video and just double checking that you've got all the things that a bar chart should have on yours.

Okay, so here's the answers to the maths questions.

So for two A, the total value of the exports or the the top five service exports, you just add them all together.

So that answer is 405.

1 billion pounds, and the average value of the UK's top five service exports, you need to add them all up and then divide by five, 'cause we've got five different services there.

So the answer for that is 81.

02 billion pounds.

So pause the video and double check your answers.

Okay, so for question two C, what is the range in the value of the top five UK exports? So the top one was business services with the answer 170.

8 billion, and the lowest one was transport services with 31.

8 billion.

So you minus that from 70.

8, and that gives the answer of 139 billion pounds.

So well done if you've got that correct.

Okay, so we have got a summary for today's lesson.

The UK trades goods and services with countries around the world.

The UK's single main trading partner is the USA.

The majority of the UK's trade is with EU countries.

The UK's main imports include manufactured goods and commodities.

The UK's main exported goods are manufactured goods, and the UK creates a lot of money from exporting services such as business and financial services.

Now that was a lot of information for today's lesson, so well done.

That's it from me and I'll see you next time.

Bye.