China-UK bilateral trade development in 2022
China-UK bilateral trade volume exceeds 90 billion US dollars
From 2015 to 2021, the total bilateral trade volume between China and the UK showed a fluctuating trend of first falling and then rising. In 2020, the total bilateral trade volume between China and the UK exceeded 90 billion US dollars, reaching 92.37 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 7%. The cumulative trade volume from January to October 2021 was US$91.37 billion, a significant increase of 24.7% year-on-year.
Chart 1: China-UK bilateral trade volume and increase/decrease from 2015 to 2021 (unit: US$100 million, %)
From the perspective of trade balance, the bilateral trade balance decreased year by year from 2015 to 2018. Since 2019, China's trade surplus with the UK has rebounded, increasing to US$52.84 billion in 2020. From January to October 2021, China's trade surplus with the UK has accumulated to US$50.4 billion, a year-on-year increase of more than 20%.
Figure 2: China's trade surplus with the UK from 2015 to 2021 (unit: US$100 million)
China is the UK's third largest foreign trade country and largest importer
According to UK customs data, in the first nine months of 2021, the UK’s foreign import and export volume was approximately US$838.06 billion, a year-on-year increase of 14.6%. Among them, the export was 337.87 billion US dollars, an increase of 18.02%; the import was 500.19 billion US dollars, an increase of 12.32%. The trade deficit was US$162.33 billion, an increase of 2.06%.
From the perspective of import and export countries/regions, from January to September 2021, the United States, Germany, China, the Netherlands, and France are the top five countries/regions in the UK's foreign trade. The import and export value was 88.11 billion US dollars, 86.49 billion US dollars, 81.70 billion US dollars, 55.01 billion US dollars and 41.54 billion US dollars respectively, accounting for 10.5%, 10.3%, 9.8%, 6.6% and 5.0% of the UK's import and export volume.
Figure 3: The proportion of the top 5 countries or regions in the UK's total foreign imports and exports from January to September 2021 (unit: %)
Note: The statistics of UK Customs and China Customs are slightly different.
The UK's main exporting countries or regions are the United States, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Ireland, etc., while China is the UK's main importing country. From January to September 2021, China, Germany, the United States, the Netherlands, and France are the top five countries/regions in the UK’s imports. The UK’s imports from the above countries are US$65.95 billion, US$56.04 billion, US$43.63 billion, and US$30.35 billion, respectively. US$22.43 billion, accounting for 13.2%, 11.2%, 8.7%, 6.1% and 4.5% of the UK's total imports.
Chart 4: The proportion of the top 5 countries or regions in the UK's total foreign imports from January to September 2021 (unit: %)
Machinery is the main product category of Sino-British bilateral trade
From the perspective of bilateral trade commodity categories, from January to September 2021, China-UK bilateral trade commodities are mainly machinery and appliances, chemical products, miscellaneous products, transportation equipment, base metals, etc., with import and export volumes of US$29.52 billion and US$9.51 billion respectively. , 9.08 billion US dollars, 6.48 billion US dollars, 4.75 billion US dollars, accounting for 36.1%, 11.6%, 11.1%, 7.9% and 5.8% of the total import and export volume respectively.
