Over the last four years, the UK has become more reliant on imports from low-cost countries in Asia. In spite of supply chain disruptions caused by Covid-19, manufactured goods imports from low-cost countries in Asia made up 61% of the UK manufacturing sector’s gross output in the third quarter of 2021 – compared with 43% in the first quarter of 2018.
The figures come from the Industrial Policy Research Centre (IPRC) Technology Centre which has established a “UK Reshoring Index” analysing UK manufacturing output and import data from 14 Asian low-cost countries.