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Britain's trade deficit with non-EU countries increased to an all-time high in November, official statistics have revealed.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) today said that the deficit in goods rose £600 million to £4.6 billion.

Overall, Britain's trade deficit on both goods and services widened to £4.7 billion in November, as opposed to October's value of £4.1 billion.

The surplus on trade in services was unchanged at £2.5 billion, while the deficit on trade in goods reached a six-month high of £7.2 billion.

And finally the overall deficit with the 27-strong EU stood relatively static at £2.6 billion in November.

Commenting on today's data, Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at research firm Global Insight, cautioned that the figures had to be treated with a "very large pinch of salt" due to missing trade intra-community VAT fraud, otherwise known as carousel fraud.

But the analyst insists that the trade statistics for November are still "disappointing".

"Exports to the US have lost significant momentum in recent months, clearly suffering from slower US growth and the strength of the pound against the dollar," he said.

Carousel fraud, which was said to be costing Britain several billions of pounds earlier in the year, accounted for £200 million in lost funds November, the ONS claimed.