The scale of Chinese imports into the UK.
But Britain has an insatiable appetite for Chinese imports, worth more than £15 billion in 2006, and China\’s importance as an investor in the UK is growing.
We\’ve got a (very roughly) £1.5 trillion economy. Total imports seem to be about £250 billion. Chinese imports are thus 1% of the economy, or perhaps 6% of all imports.
I\’m surprised at how small that is. Has Ruth Lea actually got that number correct? For 1% doesn\’t indicate to me an "insatiable appetite".
It\’s also not the sort of unstoppable juggernaught that would have all that much effect on the domestic economy either.
Per the IMF, UK imports in 2006 equalled 546bn USD. UK imports from China (mainland & HK) equalled 42bn USD.
7.79% of all UK imports came from toto China in 2006? A nice sized appetiser but as you point out, insatiable?
Big number fallacy.