Britain's trade deficit in goods widened by 0.8 billion pounds (1.2 billion U.S. dollars) to 8.6 billion pounds (12.9 billion dollars) in November of 2011, according to the latest release by the British Office of National Statistics (ONS) on Wednesday.

The widening gap came mostly from a drop in the value of exports of goods, said the report.

ONS said that the country's total exports fell by 0.4 billion pounds (0.616 billion dollars) or 1.5 percent to 25.7 billion pounds (39.58 billion dollars), but total imports rose by 0.4 billion pounds to 34.4 billion pounds (52.98 billion dollars), up by 1.1 percent.

"Trade is unlikely to contribute strongly to British economic growth in 2012, which looks set to be a challenging year," said Chris Williamson, chief economist at financial information services firm Markit.

"Signs of improved demand from countries such as the U.S. and China are likely to be countered by weak demand in the eurozone."

The surplus on seasonally adjusted trade in services was estimated at 6.1 billion pounds (9.39 billion dollars) in November, compared with the surplus of 6.0 billion pounds (9.24 billion dollars) in October.