China has replaced Germany to become Britain’s biggest source of imports for the first time since modern records began in 1997.

The United Kingdom’s goods imports from China reached 16.9 billion pounds (USD 24 billion) in the first quarter of this year, data from the British Office for National Statistics showed. Its imports from Germany fell to 12.5 billion pounds in the same period, which is believed to have resulted from disrupted UK-EU trade after Brexit.

Figures from the UK’s Revenue and Customs showed China registered the second-largest value increase month-on-month in March and the largest value increase in year-on-year terms in the same month. That is up to 455 million pounds and 3.142 billion pounds respectively.

The customs data also revealed China accounted for 13 percent of the total value of goods the UK has imported. This was an increase from 5.5 percent in March 2020. With the pandemic and Brexit, economists say it’s hard to tell if the trend will persist.

In a separate report, Office for National Statistics data showed the UK imported more goods from China than from any other country since the second quarter of 2020.

The ONS said that out of the UK’s top five import partners, China is the only one from which imports grew between the first quarter of 2018 and the first quarter of 2021.

Imports of goods from China accounted for 16.1 percent of UK goods imports in the first quarter of 2021, having increased by 65.6 percent compared with the first quarter of 2018, exhibiting a larger increase than exports, the report said. “Goods imports from China had continued to show an upward trend throughout 2020.”

The increase in imports from China in 2020 was boosted by textile fabrics for face masks and personal protective equipment. The ONS added increasing demand for commodities produced by China such as electronic goods “likely explains the increasing imports seen in 2020”.

Source: hellenicshippingnews.com