Summary
- Share of its imports
- 13.4%
- Value imported
- $96.9billion
- Rank among its suppliers
- 1st
- Products where it sells over 50%
- 96
- Products where it sells over 75%
- 19
- Dominated value
- $24.8billion
- Share of total imports
- 3.4%
Trend
Trend in shares
China went from 1.2% to 13.4% of what the United Kingdom buys
Share (%)
- China 13.4%
Source: CEPII BACI
Show the numbers
| Year | Value (USD millions) | Share | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 3,199 | 1.2% | 18 |
| 1996 | 3,679 | 1.3% | 18 |
| 1997 | 4,315 | 1.4% | 15 |
| 1998 | 5,261 | 1.7% | 14 |
| 1999 | 5,982 | 1.8% | 14 |
| 2000 | 15,448 | 4.3% | 9 |
| 2001 | 16,500 | 4.7% | 7 |
| 2002 | 18,707 | 5.1% | 5 |
| 2003 | 23,014 | 5.5% | 5 |
| 2004 | 29,211 | 6% | 5 |
| 2005 | 34,865 | 6.8% | 5 |
| 2006 | 40,737 | 7% | 3 |
| 2007 | 52,830 | 8.2% | 2 |
| 2008 | 55,503 | 8.3% | 2 |
| 2009 | 45,979 | 9.3% | 2 |
| 2010 | 59,708 | 10.3% | 2 |
| 2011 | 63,897 | 9.5% | 2 |
| 2012 | 56,738 | 8.9% | 2 |
| 2013 | 58,185 | 9% | 2 |
| 2014 | 65,042 | 9.5% | 2 |
| 2015 | 64,849 | 10.4% | 2 |
| 2016 | 60,891 | 9.7% | 2 |
| 2017 | 60,758 | 9.6% | 2 |
| 2018 | 63,277 | 9.5% | 2 |
| 2019 | 66,260 | 10% | 2 |
| 2020 | 75,641 | 12.4% | 1 |
| 2021 | 86,378 | 12.7% | 1 |
| 2022 | 107,953 | 14.1% | 1 |
| 2023 | 98,334 | 13.2% | 1 |
| 2024 | 96,917 | 13.4% | 1 |
Products where China sells more than half
| Product | Supplier | Share | Second | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Computers | China | 57% | Poland · 7% | $7.9 billion |
| Toys | China | 64.3% | Czechia · 11.1% | $1.8 billion |
| Electric heaters and hair dryers | China | 55% | Germany · 7.6% | $1.5 billion |
| Video game consoles and games | China | 76.3%over 75% | United States · 5.5% | $1.5 billion |
| Lamps and light fittings | China | 66.7% | Germany · 5.3% | $1.3 billion |
| Microphones and speakers | China | 52.9% | Vietnam · 15.6% | $1 billion |
| Home appliances | China | 68.7% | Germany · 7.9% | $866 million |
| Diodes, transistors and solar cells | China | 62.4% | United States · 6.4% | $807 million |
| Sports equipment | China | 53.4% | United States · 7.8% | $767 million |
| Rubber and plastic footwear | China | 50.7% | Vietnam · 20.5% | $590 million |
| Vacuum cleaners | China | 63.3% | Romania · 6.6% | $516 million |
| Festive and Christmas articles | China | 90.2%over 75% | India · 2% | $420 million |
| Plastic tableware and household items | China | 56% | Turkey · 5.5% | $396 million |
| Other made-up textiles | China | 56.4% | Pakistan · 5.6% | $373 million |
| Steel kitchenware and household articles | China | 74.9% | India · 6.1% | $330 million |
| Brooms, brushes and paintbrushes | China | 53.2% | Germany · 13% | $262 million |
| Garments of coated or nonwoven fabric | China | 51.4% | Vietnam · 9.7% | $238 million |
| Other hand tools | China | 51.6% | United States · 13.3% | $172 million |
| Knitted and felt hats | China | 66.8% | Italy · 6.9% | $164 million |
| Chemically modified fats and oils | China | 52.8% | Malaysia · 20.3% | $157 million |
| Aluminum kitchenware and household articles | China | 74.1% | India · 6.3% | $147 million |
| Baby carriages and strollers | China | 94.4%over 75% | Taiwan · 1.6% | $147 million |
| Artificial flowers and foliage | China | 95.8%over 75% | Netherlands · 0.86% | $146 million |
| Notebooks and registers | China | 52% | India · 10.8% | $142 million |
| Tarpaulins, awnings and tents | China | 57% | Bangladesh · 9.6% | $142 million |
| Vacuum flasks (thermoses) | China | 88.4%over 75% | United States · 5% | $134 million |
| Wigs | China | 75.6%over 75% | Indonesia · 8.8% | $126 million |
| Sound players and recorders | China | 54.8% | Vietnam · 21.2% | $123 million |
| Curtains and interior blinds | China | 50.8% | Vietnam · 15.3% | $121 million |
| Blankets and travel rugs | China | 74.4% | Morocco · 5.5% | $119 million |
and 66 more
A product has a dominant supplier when a single country sells more than 50% of what is bought of it; we flag it separately above 75%.
Are there other suppliers in the world?
- China sells 38.7% of what the world exports of computers; next come Taiwan (14.2%), Mexico (12.6%) and Vietnam (7%). The rest of the world exported 32.1 times what the United Kingdom buys from China.
- China sells 66.3% of what the world exports of toys; next come Vietnam (5.8%), Czechia (4.1%) and Mexico (2.6%). The rest of the world exported 10.5 times what the United Kingdom buys from China.
- China sells 48% of what the world exports of electric heaters and hair dryers; next come Germany (5.9%), Italy (4.2%) and Mexico (4%). The rest of the world exported 22.6 times what the United Kingdom buys from China.
- China sells 58.5% of what the world exports of video game consoles and games; next come Japan (6.7%), United States (5.3%) and Germany (3.3%). The rest of the world exported 8.9 times what the United Kingdom buys from China.
- China sells 59.2% of what the world exports of lamps and light fittings; next come Germany (4.7%), Mexico (4%) and Italy (3.6%). The rest of the world exported 15.7 times what the United Kingdom buys from China.
- China sells 45.9% of what the world exports of microphones and speakers; next come Vietnam (17.2%), Mexico (4.5%) and Germany (3.8%). The rest of the world exported 28.1 times what the United Kingdom buys from China.
- China sells 56.2% of what the world exports of home appliances; next come Germany (7.7%), Malaysia (6.5%) and Vietnam (4.9%). The rest of the world exported 16.6 times what the United Kingdom buys from China.
- China sells 39.2% of what the world exports of diodes, transistors and solar cells; next come Malaysia (8.6%), Japan (7.4%) and Vietnam (5.9%). The rest of the world exported 100.6 times what the United Kingdom buys from China.
- China sells 50.4% of what the world exports of sports equipment; next come Taiwan (6.2%), United States (4.7%) and Vietnam (4.6%). The rest of the world exported 20.5 times what the United Kingdom buys from China.
- China sells 50.6% of what the world exports of rubber and plastic footwear; next come Vietnam (16.4%), Indonesia (6%) and Germany (3.8%). The rest of the world exported 34.1 times what the United Kingdom buys from China.
Exports from the rest of the world already have buyers; the figure shows scale, not availability.
Seen from China
The United Kingdom is China’s 10th-largest customer, with 2.7% of its exports.
Links
- Trade between the United Kingdom and China
- Who does the United Kingdom rely on?
- Who does China rely on?
- Dependence of the United Kingdom on Norway
- Dependence of the United Kingdom on the United States
- Dependence of the United Kingdom on Ireland
- Dependence of the United Kingdom on Spain
- Dependence of the United Kingdom on Switzerland
- Dependence of the United Kingdom on the Netherlands
- Dependence of the United Kingdom on Belgium
- Dependence of the United Kingdom on Italy
- Dependence of the United Kingdom on Germany
- Trade profile of the United Kingdom
- Trade profile of China
- All countries
Sources and method
Sources and licenses
- CEPII BACI · Licence Ouverte Etalab 2.0
- Natural Earth · Public domain
Methodology
The data come from CEPII BACI (Etalab 2.0 licence), which reconciles what the exporting and the importing country report, in current USD, FOB. Data up to 2024.
Dependence is the share of a country’s imports (or exports) that each partner accounts for. It does not measure whether a product has a substitute or how much it would cost to change supplier.
The concentration index (HHI) adds up the square of each partner’s share, in percent: it runs from 0 to 10,000. Its equivalent is 10,000 ÷ HHI, the number of partners of the same size that would give that value.
Products are HS4 headings of the 1992 nomenclature (some combine different goods), with a floor of $1 million per product and country.
The EU is the 27 current members in every year; the United Kingdom is outside the EU throughout the series.
Re-exports: countries that act as redistribution hubs carry their notice and the figures are not corrected.