China replaces Germany as UK’s biggest import market

Trade with EU falls 23% from 2018 as Brexit and Covid disrupt exports from Britain

China has replaced Germany as the UK's biggest single import market for the first time on record, partly fuelled by demand for Chinese textiles used for face masks and PPE, official figures showed.

Goods imports from China to the UK increased by 66% since the start of 2018 to 16.9bn in the first quarter of 2021, the Office for National Statistics said. Imports from Germany fell by a quarter over the same period, to 12.5bn. The European Union as a whole remains the largest trading partner for the UK.