By Bob Savic, Advisor to Dezan Shira & Associates
UK companies are seeing a significant rise in exports of goods and services to China, in spite of the ongoing deterioration in political relations between the two governments. Indeed, China as a trading partner for the UK, overall, in terms of both imports and exports of goods and services is showing signs of reaching new highs, in 2021, after a hiatus last year.
By contrast, over 2020, UK exports to China fell by a precipitous 37.7 percent, to £13.8 billion (US$18.6 billion) from £22.9 billion (US$30.1 billion) in the previous year. The bulk of the decline was made up of goods exports which decreased by 42 percent, while services exports fell by 16 percent.
The mending UK-China trade picture
According to recently released data by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for the first quarter of this year, the UK’s exports to China were up by 6.2 percent at £3.9 billion (US$5.5 billion), versus £3.6 billion (US$5.1 billion) in Q1 2020. This made China the seventh largest market for UK exports in that period.
Meantime,…
