Issue Ten of the CBBC Trade Tracker provides an overview of UK-China (including Hong Kong) goods trade in the four quarters ending Q2 2024, and a breakdown of UK regional exports from north to south. It draws on HMRC data compiled by CBBC.

Key Highlights

• Goods exports from the UK to China (including Hong Kong) fell by 1.3% to £21.2 billion in the four quarters ending Q2 2024. This represented a slight improvement from the previous Tracker covering trade in 2023, which saw UK goods exports to China fall by 1.6%.
• The Midlands (East and West) was the UK’s largest goods exporter to China, with outward trade amounting to £6.7 billion, growing by 13.4% year-on-year.
• Scotland’s new top export to China, ‘Power Generating Machinery & Equipment’, grew by 9.2% to a record £282 million, while its seafood exports rose 62.2% to a record £58.5 million.
• England’s North East, encompassing towns such as Newcastle and Sunderland, experienced the second-highest growth in exports to China (10.6%), with eight of its top 10 exports to China recording double-digit growth.
• Yorkshire and the Humber was by far the UK’s largest exporter of unprocessed textile products to China, accounting for 94% of all such exports and generating £82 million.
• Wales had the third-highest proportion of exports to China relative to GDP among UK regions, following the East and West Midlands.
• Goods exports from England’s South West to China, the region’s fourth-largest export market, grew by 10.4% to £1.7 billion. This growth made it the UK’s fifth-largest goods exporter to China for the first time.

Read the report here

 
The China-Britain Business Council and its members:

CBBC is the UK’s leading business network supporting trade, education, and investment links with China. Our membership includes over 400 UK businesses and universities.

Since 1954 we have acted as the independent voice of business, and past Chairs include Lord Powell, former foreign affairs advisor to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and Sir David Brewer, former Lord Mayor of the City of London. The current Chair is Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles. Lord Sassoon is Honorary President.

Members include some of the most recognisable British businesses such as abrdn, Arup, Atkins, BP, Diageo, EY, HSBC, IHG Hotels and Resorts, Jaguar Land Rover, KPMG, Legal & General, PwC, Reckitt, Rio Tinto, Smith+Nephew, and Standard Chartered.

Contact:
Kenrick Davis, Senior China Policy Analyst at the China-Britain Business Council
Kenrick.Davis@cbbc.org