China outstrips Germany as Britain's biggest source of imports

[xizhimen]

China outstrips Germany as Britain's biggest source of imports​

Demand for PPE, electronics and clothes has pushed China ahead of Germany, ONS says

ByRussell Lynch, ECONOMICS EDITOR
25 May 2021 • 1:33pm


China has supplanted Germany as the UK’s biggest source of goods imports as Covid-19 sent demand for face masks and electronic goods soaring, official figures showed.

A trade analysis by the Office for National Statistics showed total goods imports from the world’s second biggest economy jumped 41pc during 2020 to account for a sixth of all the UK’s overseas purchases during the first three months of 2021.

Covid affected Chinese exports far less than the UK’s other top five biggest trading partners, accelerating the long-run trend of rising Chinese trade and overtaking Germany, the ONS said.

Compared with 2018, overall imports from China have risen 65pc to £16.9bn in the opening quarter of 2021, in contrast with declining imports from the US, France, the Netherlands and Germany. German imports sank from £17bn to £12.5bn over the same period.

The figures reflected “increasing demand” for electronic goods produced by China during the outbreak, the ONS said. It added: “UK imports of textile fabrics from China jumped in 2020, boosted by demand for face masks and personal protective equipment essential in the UK management of the pandemic.”

The surge in Chinese goods flowing into the UK was also driven by clothing and footwear in February and March as retailers restocked ahead of the reopening of non-essential retail on April 12.
Barring a brief six-month spell 20 years ago, Europe’s biggest economy has sold more goods to the UK than any other country since ONS records began in 1997.

But imports from Germany have declined since April 2019 amid increased uncertainty around the UK’s departure from the European Union, followed by the impact of Covid-19 from last spring.

The share of Britain’s total imports from Germany has sunk 2.6 percentage points to 11.8pc over the past three years, while the country also suffered the greatest fall of any of Britain’s trading partners at the end of the transition period.

Paul Dales, chief UK economist at Capital Economics, said temporary factors were likely to be behind China's rise. He said: “My gut feeling is that China has overtaken due to Covid-19 and the end of the transition period and that it will revert to Germany. But over time I would expect that our share of trade would rise with China and the gap would narrow between the two.”

The UK's total trade with non-EU countries surpassed EU trade for the first time during the first quarter of 2021, but the ONS highlighted that trade “was already at depressed levels because of the ongoing pandemic and recession”.
“It is therefore too early to assess the extent to which the transition period reflects short-term trade disruption or longer-term supply chain adjustments,” it added.

Pre-Brexit stockpiling has also distorted trade figures. Data from the Office for Economic Co-operation and Development showed goods trade hitting record levels in the first quarter of 2021 as exports and imports across its 37 members jumped by 8pc and 8.1pc respectively.

The UK was the only country to register a decline in trade following “large increases in the previous quarter, when stockpiling was taking place in view of the exit from the EU Single Market”, the OECD said.

China outstrips Germany as Britain's biggest source of imports

Demand for PPE, electronics and clothes has pushed China ahead of Germany, ONS says

www.telegraph.co.uk

 

[Kaptaan]

China outstrips Germany as Britain's biggest source of imports​

Demand for PPE, electronics and clothes has pushed China ahead of Germany, ONS says

ByRussell Lynch, ECONOMICS EDITOR
25 May 2021 • 1:33pm


China has supplanted Germany as the UK’s biggest source of goods imports as Covid-19 sent demand for face masks and electronic goods soaring, official figures showed.

A trade analysis by the Office for National Statistics showed total goods imports from the world’s second biggest economy jumped 41pc during 2020 to account for a sixth of all the UK’s overseas purchases during the first three months of 2021.

Covid affected Chinese exports far less than the UK’s other top five biggest trading partners, accelerating the long-run trend of rising Chinese trade and overtaking Germany, the ONS said.

Compared with 2018, overall imports from China have risen 65pc to £16.9bn in the opening quarter of 2021, in contrast with declining imports from the US, France, the Netherlands and Germany. German imports sank from £17bn to £12.5bn over the same period.

The figures reflected “increasing demand” for electronic goods produced by China during the outbreak, the ONS said. It added: “UK imports of textile fabrics from China jumped in 2020, boosted by demand for face masks and personal protective equipment essential in the UK management of the pandemic.”

The surge in Chinese goods flowing into the UK was also driven by clothing and footwear in February and March as retailers restocked ahead of the reopening of non-essential retail on April 12.
Barring a brief six-month spell 20 years ago, Europe’s biggest economy has sold more goods to the UK than any other country since ONS records began in 1997.

But imports from Germany have declined since April 2019 amid increased uncertainty around the UK’s departure from the European Union, followed by the impact of Covid-19 from last spring.

The share of Britain’s total imports from Germany has sunk 2.6 percentage points to 11.8pc over the past three years, while the country also suffered the greatest fall of any of Britain’s trading partners at the end of the transition period.

Paul Dales, chief UK economist at Capital Economics, said temporary factors were likely to be behind China's rise. He said: “My gut feeling is that China has overtaken due to Covid-19 and the end of the transition period and that it will revert to Germany. But over time I would expect that our share of trade would rise with China and the gap would narrow between the two.”

The UK's total trade with non-EU countries surpassed EU trade for the first time during the first quarter of 2021, but the ONS highlighted that trade “was already at depressed levels because of the ongoing pandemic and recession”.
“It is therefore too early to assess the extent to which the transition period reflects short-term trade disruption or longer-term supply chain adjustments,” it added.

Pre-Brexit stockpiling has also distorted trade figures. Data from the Office for Economic Co-operation and Development showed goods trade hitting record levels in the first quarter of 2021 as exports and imports across its 37 members jumped by 8pc and 8.1pc respectively.

The UK was the only country to register a decline in trade following “large increases in the previous quarter, when stockpiling was taking place in view of the exit from the EU Single Market”, the OECD said.

China outstrips Germany as Britain's biggest source of imports

Demand for PPE, electronics and clothes has pushed China ahead of Germany, ONS says

www.telegraph.co.uk

I expect this lead will be consolidated in the future. Cars are a major German import. Sell one car and you make £50k. You have to sell loads of PPE's to get there. German brands like BMW, Mercedez, Audi dominate UK auto market. However I was looking at this Chinese EV car called NIO I think and it looked impressive. I suspect with two decades EV cars will be dominant and Chinese brands will be big by then.

 

[xizhimen]

UK is Germany's neighbor and it's cost effective to do trade with close neighbors than buying from half a globe away.

 

[Kaptaan]

UK is Germany's neighbor and it's cost effective to do trade with close neighbors than buying from half a globe away.

When it relates to cheap products. That does not apply to cars and other expensive products.

 

[TR_123456]

I expect this lead will be consolidated in the future. Cars are a major German import. Sell one car and you make £50k. You have to sell loads of PPE's to get there. German brands like BMW, Mercedez, Audi dominate UK auto market. However I was looking at this Chinese EV car called NIO I think and it looked impressive. I suspect with two decades EV cars will be dominant and Chinese brands will be big by then.

What about the quality of the Chinese cars?

 

[Glass🚬]

I expect this lead will be consolidated in the future. Cars are a major German import. Sell one car and you make £50k. You have to sell loads of PPE's to get there. German brands like BMW, Mercedez, Audi dominate UK auto market. However I was looking at this Chinese EV car called NIO I think and it looked impressive. I suspect with two decades EV cars will be dominant and Chinese brands will be big by then.

It will be certainly interesting how the car market will look like by the end of this decade, how many traditional european car makers will be left as increasing competitions looms from asia, also Turkey with TOGG.

 

[xizhimen]

What about the quality of the Chinese cars?

 

[xizhimen]

Chinese car factories now are fully automatic, build one car every 50 seconds

 

[TR_123456]

Looks good,we'll just have to see them in Europe on the roads.

 

[KKF 2.0]

People often think that Brexit just means leaving the European Union behind when in fact the UK is still at the beginning of a long divorce process. Countries like China, the US or even Turkey are going to be much more important for the United Kingdom.

Turkish exports to the UK are going through the roof:

Turkey’s exports to UK surge in Q1 after post-Brexit free trade deal

Turkish exporters have seen a noteworthy surge in their sales to the United Kingdom from January through March this year following the signing of a...

www.dailysabah.com

 

[xizhimen]

EU has so much internal disputes and conflicts, member states are so diverse and at various development levels, each has their own particular challenges, this union won't last long, UK is just a starter.

 

[Kaptaan]

What about the quality of the Chinese cars?

Junk. Which is my I would not touch a Chinese car. For now car to me means only "German". BMW, Porche are my tops. My comments were with referance to the future. Over the next decade and half.

The Chinese auto industry has pretty well missed the internal combustion era. I think they are investing in the emerging and future all electric vehicles - EVs. In a future market of all EVs the Chinese will be major players because they are inversting heavily in this sector aided by massive Chinese state investments which will bear fruit over the long term.

If any of you are old enough like me you will be aware how East Asians always begin with low end products and try capture the poorer markets across the world. Then once grabbed they begin the inexorable rise in quality. This is story of Japanese auto industry. I have seen this with Koreans as well whose cars although still not up there have improved massivel;y from the junk they produced back in 1980s.

Although as a petrolhead I confess even now I don't feel the same with Japanese cars - even when the quality is superfluous like Lexus. The problem is when you get to about £40k price point most cars will do what you want them to do.

Above that price point we want something else in a car. It's not tangible. It's like having a woman. A average women will do you okay. She might be faithful. Bear you healthy smart kids. Cook great food.

But tell me which man does not want that special women tapping along who makes you go ga ga even if she can't cook, is unfaithful but by heck while you have her your living it. Even if she cleans your bank account out. You know you have "lived".

Great cars should do the same. I have driven some cars and felt almost like I was I the arms of Kim Bassinger. And I mean when she was young. For me only German or Italian-German cars do it.

For now ...

Ps. My brother works for Kahn Design who upgrade exotic cars. I ofen get chance to test some of these babies. German and Italian brands are tops. Driving some of them is like having dry sex with Kim Bassinger on a hot tropical island.

 

[TR_123456]

Junk. Which is my I would not touch a Chinese car. For now car to me means only "German". BMW, Porche are my tops. My comments were with referance to the future. Over the next decade and half.

The Chinese auto industry has pretty well missed the internal combustion era. I think they are investing in the emerging and future all electric vehicles - EVs. In a future market of all EVs the Chinese will be major players because they are inversting heavily in this sector aided by massive Chinese state investments which will bear fruit over the long term.

If any of you are old enough like me you will be aware how East Asians always begin with low end products and try capture the poorer markets across the world. Then once grabbed they begin the inexorable rise in quality. This is story of Japanese auto industry. I have seen this with Koreans as well whose cars although still not up there have improved massivel;y from the junk they produced back in 1980s.

Although as a petrolhead I confess even now I don't feel the same with Japanese cars - even when the quality is superfluous like Lexus. The problem is when you get to about £40k price point most cars will do what you want them to do.

Above that price point we want something else in a car. It's not tangible. It's like having a woman. A average women will do you okay. She might be faithful. Bear you healthy smart kids. Cook great food.

But tell me which man does not want that special women tapping along who makes you go ga ga even if she can't cook, is unfaithful but by heck while you have her your living it. Even if she cleans your bank account out. You know you have "lived".

Great cars should do the same. I have driven some cars and felt almost like I was I the arms of Kim Bassinger. And I mean when she was young. For me only German or Italian-German cars do it.

For now ...

Ps. My brother works for Kahn Design who upgrade exotic cars. I ofen get chance to test some of these babies. German and Italian brands are tops. Driving some of them is like having dry sex with Kim Bassinger on a hot tropical island.

Ill just have to see myself when i get chance to drive one of those Chinese cars.
Havent seen one yet.

 

[xizhimen]

China overtakes Germany as UK’s top import market
Published 25 May 2021

China has overtaken Germany to become the UK's biggest single import market for the first time since records began.

Goods imported from China rose 66% from the start of 2018 to £16.9bn ($24bn) in the first quarter of this year, the Office for National Statistics said.

Imports from Germany fell by a quarter to £12.5bn in the same period.

The change came as trade with the European Union was disrupted by Brexit and the pandemic boosted demand for Chinese goods.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) report aimed to assess the impacts of Brexit and the coronavirus on the UK's trade in goods.
It found evidence that trade had been disrupted at the start of the new relationship between the UK and the EU.

The ONS said German imports to the UK had fallen since April 2019, amid uncertainty over the details of Britain's exit from the EU.

Germany's motor industry also felt the impact of the pandemic as both vehicle production and global exports were hit.

In the UK, demand for new vehicles slumped as car showrooms were shut due to lockdown measures.
Exports of goods to Ireland saw the greatest proportionate fall of the UK's top five exporting partners after the EU transition period, the ONS said.

Since modern records began in 1997, Germany had been the UK's biggest source of imports, except for a six month period at the end of 2000 and the start of the following year when the US briefly took the top spot.

Despite a 23.1% fall in total trade with European Union countries as a whole in the period, the EU remains the UK's biggest trading partner, the report found.


The figures also showed there was a jump in imports from China of textiles used for face masks and other personal protective equipment, as well as stronger demand for electrical devices.

China was the first major economy to see its global trade grow last year as it became the first big country to emerge from the pandemic.

China overtakes Germany as UK’s top import market

It came as Brexit disrupted trade with the EU and the pandemic boosted demand for Chinese goods.

www.bbc.com

 

[kimov]

What about the quality of the Chinese cars?

For Chinese products, you get the quality you pay for while American cars like Tesla are always subpar on quality.

 

[kimov]

But tell me which man does not want that special women tapping along who makes you go ga ga even if she can't cook, is unfaithful but by heck while you have her your living it. Even if she cleans your bank account out. You know you have "lived".

Fuck hell no, an unfaithful gold-digger can stay the fuck out of my life.