UK–China Import Pulse
UK imports from China were £16.19bn in Q2 2026, up 13.0% on the same quarter of 2025. A quarterly read of HMRC's official trade statistics for UK imports from China, published by Cambridge China Bridge. It updates automatically when HMRC publishes a new quarter.
Q2 2026, compared with Q2 2025
- UK imports from China
- £16.19bn
- Change on a year earlier
- +13.0%
- Product chapters traded
- 96
Data brief: Q2 2026
UK imports from China were £16.19bn in Q2 2026, up 13.0% (£1.86bn) on Q2 2025.
Top 3 rising headings
- Structures and parts of structures (HS 7308): £288m, up 296.7% from £73m
- Engines and motors (HS 8412): £36m, up 184.2% from £13m
- Air conditioning machines comprising a motor-driven fan and elements… (HS 8415): £51m, up 109.3% from £25m
Top 3 falling headings
- Motor vehicles for the transport of >= 10 persons (HS 8702): £12m, down 82.1% from £66m
- Video game consoles and machines, table or parlour games (HS 9504): £83m, down 58.4% from £199m
- Oscilloscopes, spectrum analysers and other instruments and apparatus… (HS 9030): £12m, down 51.8% from £24m
Headings (HS4) worth at least £10 million in both quarters.
Among these six headings, value per kg runs from £2.79 for Structures and parts of structures to £34.40 for Oscilloscopes, spectrum analysers and other instruments and apparatus… Why £ per kg matters →
Cite as: Cambridge China Bridge, "UK–China Import Pulse", Q2 2026, https://camchinabridge.co.uk/uk-china-import-pulse/briefs/2026-q2/. Contains HMRC data licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Open data:https://github.com/bonoxu/camchinabridge-open-data
What stands out
- UK imports from China were £16.19bn in Q2 2026, up 13.0% on the same quarter of 2025.
- That is the highest Q2 total since the series starts in 2019.
- Electrical machinery and equipment and parts thereof was the largest chapter at £3.57bn.
- The fastest-rising large heading was Structures and parts of structures, up 296.7% to £288m.
- The steepest fall was Motor vehicles for the transport of >= 10 persons, down 82.1% to £12m.
Every quarter since 2019
Across 2025 as a whole, UK imports from China were £62.46bn, up 0.8% on 2024 and up 35.3% on 2019.
| Year | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Full year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | £11.38bn | £10.39bn | £12.04bn | £12.35bn | £46.16bn |
| 2020 | £9.33bn | £10.92bn | £14.98bn | £18.01bn | £53.24bn |
| 2021 | £15.16bn | £14.22bn | £16.04bn | £17.67bn | £63.09bn |
| 2022 | £17.69bn | £15.26bn | £17.56bn | £18.36bn | £68.87bn |
| 2023 | £15.11bn | £14.98bn | £15.45bn | £16.53bn | £62.08bn |
| 2024 | £13.93bn | £14.70bn | £15.94bn | £17.38bn | £61.94bn |
| 2025 | £15.41bn | £14.33bn | £15.70bn | £17.02bn | £62.46bn |
| 2026 | £16.67bn | £16.19bn | – | – | – |
Quarterly totals on the same basis as the headline figure. A full-year total appears once all four quarters are published.
The largest product chapters
| Code | Product | Value | Change | £ per kg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 85 | Electrical machinery and equipment and parts thereof | £3.57bn | +4.4% | £14.01 |
| 84 | Nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances | £2.89bn | +7.8% | £8.98 |
| 87 | Vehicles other than railway or tramway rolling-stock, and parts and… | £2.13bn | +64.1% | £7.53 |
| 94 | Furniture | £1.05bn | +3.5% | £2.95 |
| 73 | Articles of iron or steel | £670m | +56.6% | £2.45 |
| 39 | Plastics and plastic products | £519m | +8.4% | £2.25 |
| 95 | Toys, games and sports requisites | £491m | −14.8% | £4.76 |
| 90 | Optical, photographic, cinematographic, measuring, checking,… | £356m | +4.6% | £21.03 |
| 61 | Articles of apparel and clothing accessories, knitted or crocheted | £291m | +1.7% | £15.47 |
| 29 | Organic chemicals | £262m | +22.6% | £2.72 |
| 62 | Articles of apparel and clothing accessories, not knitted or crocheted | £261m | −6.7% | £19.97 |
| 40 | Rubber and articles thereof | £242m | +20.7% | £2.29 |
Fastest-rising headings
| Code | Product | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7308 | Structures and parts of structures | £288m | +296.7% |
| 8412 | Engines and motors | £36m | +184.2% |
| 8415 | Air conditioning machines comprising a motor-driven fan and elements… | £51m | +109.3% |
| 8703 | Motor cars and other motor vehicles principally designed for the… | £1.75bn | +92.3% |
| 8711 | Motorcycles | £45m | +76.8% |
| 4803 | Toilet or facial tissue stock, towel or napkin stock and similar… | £19m | +72.5% |
| 3824 | Prepared binders for foundry moulds or cores | £18m | +71.1% |
| 1602 | Prepared or preserved meat, meat offal, blood or insects | £54m | +64.3% |
Steepest falls
| Code | Product | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8702 | Motor vehicles for the transport of >= 10 persons | £12m | −82.1% |
| 9504 | Video game consoles and machines, table or parlour games | £83m | −58.4% |
| 9030 | Oscilloscopes, spectrum analysers and other instruments and apparatus… | £12m | −51.8% |
| 6210 | Garments made up of felt or nonwovens, whether or not impregnated,… | £11m | −50.3% |
| 9402 | Medical, surgical, dental or veterinary furniture | £10m | −31.7% |
| 8409 | Parts suitable for use solely or principally with internal combustion… | £48m | −29.3% |
| 8433 | Harvesting or threshing machinery | £52m | −26.4% |
| 8423 | Weighing machinery | £10m | −26.1% |
Headings (HS4) worth at least £10 million in both quarters.
Why £ per kg matters
Freight is charged on space, so low-value, bulky goods (furniture, steel articles, paper) are hard to import in small part-container loads without the landed cost rising sharply. High-value, dense goods absorb freight easily. Value per kilogram is a quick way to see which categories suit small trial orders and which reward full containers.
Method and sources
- Source: HMRC overseas trade statistics, UK imports from China (non-EU imports), through HMRC's public trade data API.
- Values are in pounds sterling as HMRC records them. Confidential and unclassified lines (chapter 99) are excluded.
- HMRC revises recent months; the page is rebuilt monthly and always shows the latest figures HMRC has published.
- Weight-based £ per kg ranks categories; it does not measure freight cost directly, which depends on volume.
HMRC trade data· Estimate duty and VAT for a product →· UK tariff change log →
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Download the figures (CSV)· Download the open dataset (GitHub)
Cite as: Cambridge China Bridge, "UK–China Import Pulse", Q2 2026, https://camchinabridge.co.uk/uk-china-import-pulse/. Contains HMRC data licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
See also
Monthly email
What changed for UK buyers from China, and when to act
One email at the start of each month. Every figure has an official source.
- Next month's HMRC customs exchange rates: USD, EUR, CNY
- Duty, anti-dumping and UK rule changes, with the date they apply
- Chinese New Year order deadlines, before they pass