China, developing economies should be key trade targets to aid GDP growth: UK business group

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China, developing economies should be key trade targets to aid GDP growth: UK business group

(Xinhua) 08:16, November 05, 2013

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LONDON, Nov. 4 -- The leading business organization in Britain on Monday launched a strategic report on export strategy that focused on developing economies and especially China as a route to economic growth.

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) unveiled its strategic report "Our Global Future" at its annual conference in central London.

The UK current exports just 12.7 billion pounds (about 20.2 billion U.S. dollars) to China, only 2.8 percent of total UK exports.

The UK's share of the Chinese market has fallen to just 1 percent, well behind other European rivals such as Germany, France, and Italy.

The report stated that the UK started from a low base in trade with China, but is "well positioned to improved trading link as China changes."

"The UK's export mix is not particularly well aligned with China's fastest-growing sectors," the report said, as "China focused on imports of raw materials and machinery with only 32 percent of imports being services, which is a large part of British exports."

"Despite this, the UK's economy is well positioned to increase its participation in the Chinese market in future years. As China becomes wealthier, its economy will become more like that of other developed countries, replacing imports of industrial goods with imports of high-value goods and services of which the UK is a leading exporter," authors said in the report.

Britain needed to target export markets in emerging economies across the world as its traditional export markets in developed countries were growing at a slow rate, the report highlighted.

From 1999 to 2012 emerging economies grew 118 percent, while developed economies grew just 26 percent, and forecasts by professional services firm PwC showed that by 2050 China, India, Brazil, Russia, Mexico and Indonesia, would all have larger economies than any EU nation.

The British economic recovery was thrown off course in 2011 and 2012 by the eurozone crisis, which hit economies in the UK's largest export market the European Union (EU).

"As global economic weight shifts towards emerging and developing economies, the UK must adapt to take advantage of new trading and investment opportunities," the report urged.

The report also called for Britain's continued membership of the EU at a time when a referendum on future membership has been promised by Prime Minister David Cameron. (1 pound = 1.59 U.S. dollars)