The South West saw the biggest annual rise in trade with China in the last quarter of 2021 compared to the rest of the UK, new research has found.
The China Britain Business Council (CBBC), an organisation that seeks to promote trade between the two nations, said goods worth £269m were exported from the region to the Asian country.
This reflected a 57% increase from the same period in 2020, and 78% up on pre-pandemic levels in 2019.
The biggest gains were recorded for markets such as power generating machinery - worth £88m, a near 300% year-on-year (YoY) rise - and metal ore, which grew by almost 470% YoY from £3.8m to £21.9m.
The report, which drew from government and ONS data, found there was a dip in the ‘general industrial machinery’ market, the South West second-most valuable export to China, which fell from £36.5m to £27.8m over the year.
Nationally, the China Britain Business Council, which represents more than 400 businesses and organisations estimated that exports to China grew to £18.1bn in 2021.
According to the report all English regions except the East and Yorkshire and the Humber surpassed pre-pandemic trade levels in the final quarter.
Exports of essential goods to China (excluding crude oil and gold) were up 11% in 2021 YoY, compared to a much weaker recovery of comparable exports to the UK’s other major trading partners - US (1.7%), EU (2%), Japan (1.7%).
Last year, Britain shipped 12.6% of its road vehicle exports, and 6.6% of its machinery and transport equipment exports to China. The CBBC said the first quarter of 2022 had seen overall exports slump to £4.9bn due to Covid-19 lockdowns in Shanghai and other Chinese cities.
It said experts believed this would only be a “short-term blip”, with country’s growing middle class - estimated by the Department for International Trade to reach 400 million in the coming decade - providing more opportunities for British businesses.
Andrew Seaton, chief executive of The CBBC, said: “While the past few months have been challenging, it’s encouraging to see that trading relationship going from strength to strength, with most UK regions reporting record export levels.
“For many firms, taking that first step into this market has proved a crucial life-line in tough economic times. For others it has led to transformational growth. The fact that exports to China surpassed pre-pandemic levels across the majority of UK regions and nations at the end of 2021 shows the importance of the Chinese market to our recovery.”
Exports of British goods to China have grown almost 500% over the past 15 years, making China the UK’s third largest trading partner.
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