PRC overtakes US to turn EU's biggest trading partner

03 Dec '20

2 min read

Pic: Shutterstock

China has overtaken the United States in the third quarter of this year to turn the European Union’s (EU) biggest trading partner. Over the first nine months of 2020, trade between the EU and China totalled €425.5 billion ($514 billion), while trade between the EU and the United States was worth €412.5 billion euros, according to Eurostat data.

For the same period last year, the EU’s trade with China and the United States were worth €413.4 billion and €461 billion respectively.
Eurostat said the result was due to a 4.5 per cent increase in imports from China while exports remained unchanged.

“At the same time trade with the United States recorded a significant drop in both imports (-11.4 per cent) and exports (-10.0 per cent),” Eurostat was quoted as saying by global newswires.

The EU has been China’s top trade partner since 2004 when it overtook Japan, but this is the first time the inverse has been true, France’s Insee statistics agency said.

After the COVID-19-induced economic crisis in the first quarter, the Chinese economy has rebounded, with the economy growing year on year in the third quarter.

Chinese imports from Europe picked up in the third quarter, while purchases of personal protective equipment had boosted Chinese exports.

China’s economy has grown 4.9 per cent in the third quarter from last year proving the country is back to its pre-pandemic trajectory with consumer spending and industrial production going back to normal levels.

Chinese firms have benefited from strong global demand for masks and medical supplies, with exports rising 9.9 per cent in September from a year earlier while factory activity also picked up.

The International Monetary Fund has projected China’s economy to expand by 1.9 per cent in 2020.

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