China becomes EU's biggest trade partner in 2020

 China became the main trade partner of the European Union (EU) in 2020, with exports and imports both increasing despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Eurostat said earlier this week.

Key takeaways

“While China's total goods imports and exports expanded 1.9 percent year on year to 32.16 trillion yuan (about 5 trillion US dollars) in 2020, hitting a record high, the surge in trade with the EU was more than double the average growth rate.”

“The bloc's imports from China throughout the year 2020 grew by 5.6 percent year-on-year to 383.5 billion euros (465 billion U.S. dollars), and exports grew by 2.2 percent to 202.5 billion euros.”

“China's official data published in mid-January showed the trade with the EU grew by 5.3 percent to 4495.77 billion yuan, or nearly 600 billion euros, in 2020.”