Entering 2020, under the influence of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, most countries around the world have experienced a serious economic downturn, and trade between countries has been significantly cut. A few days ago, according to the latest data show that China has become the largest source of imports to the United Kingdom for the first time, what are the details?

According to a report by the British media, in the second quarter of this year, during the most serious period of the new crown epidemic in the UK, the UK imported more from China than any other country for the first time.

According to the report, in the second quarter of this year, one out of every seven pounds of goods imported into the UK came from China. Chinese companies exported 11 billion worth of goods to the U.K., with a significant increase in textiles, including medical masks used by the NHS and electronics such as home computers used in remote offices.

China was once the UK's second largest source of imports after Germany. China's annual sales of goods to the U.K. average 45 billion pounds, compared with 65 billion pounds for Germany. But Germany and other countries in the United Kingdom's share of imports fell in the second quarter, while China has achieved growth. Electronic technology equipment accounted for the largest share of British imports from China, reaching 35.2 percent, worth 3.9 billion pounds.

For the first time, China became the UK's largest source of imports for three main reasons.

First, China's epidemic prevention and control in the second quarter has begun to achieve significant results, and at this time when the epidemic began to rage in many European countries, the outbreak of the epidemic so that the industrial chain and supply chain of many European countries by the impact. During this period, Germany and other major trading partners of the United Kingdom due to the adoption of blockade measures to prevent the epidemic, so that trade transactions were affected to some extent.

ONS also pointed out that in the second quarter, the largest decline in the import and export of goods in the United Kingdom is mechanical transport equipment and fuel, which is related to the epidemic led to a sharp decline in demand for road vehicles and oil. Data show that in the second quarter, the UK road vehicle exports and imports fell sharply. Several of the UK's largest partners in the EU, such as Germany, also saw a decline in the production of transport equipment.

Second, China has the advantage of a full industrial chain of production, which is not available in other countries. According to UN agencies, China is the only country in the world that has all the industrial categories in the UN Industrial Classification. Compared with other countries, China's advantage of the whole industrial chain can quickly help China to resume work and production.

Bai Ming, deputy director of the International Market Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, said that during the epidemic, the rise of the "home economy" created favorable conditions for the UK to import electronic equipment from China in the second quarter. Chinese medical masks, cell phones, computers and other products produced in China played an important role in the fight against the epidemic and the recovery of the economy.

Third, the impact of the British "Brexit" factor. Chen Fengying, a researcher at the China Institute of Modern International Relations, pointed out that the UK is still negotiating with the EU on matters related to Brexit, and the news of Brexit has to a certain extent affected the trade between the UK and its traditional trading partners in Europe.

The "Brexit" negotiation means that in the short term, there will be a readjustment of the supply chain and the industrial chain within the UK and the EU, which makes it urgent for the UK to expand its import sources from other countries. 

China and the UK have very close ties in import and export trade, and ONS data show that China ranked third among the countries to which the UK exported goods in 2019, after the US and Germany.