International Market Development

International market development | Comprehensive analysis of British economy and market conditions

Author : Bozhou Marine

Update time : 2020-12-23 13:29:02

In this article, we mainly introduce the basic situation of the UK market. Including: geographic location, major cities, population conditions, ethnic groups, major festivals, natural resources, major industries, infrastructure construction, GDP, foreign exchange reserves, employment, corporate income tax, personal tax rates, etc.

Introduction

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (English: The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), referred to as "United Kingdom". The mainland is located in the British Isles to the northwest of the European continent, surrounded by the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea, the Irish Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

The United Kingdom is a Western European island country composed of England, Wales and Scotland on the Isle of Great Britain, Northern Ireland in the northeast of the island of Ireland, and a series of affiliated islands.

Britain is a highly developed capitalist country, one of the four largest European economies, and its citizens have a very high standard of living and a good social security system. As the head of the Commonwealth of State, a member of the Group of Seven, a founding member of NATO, the United Kingdom is also one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

Capital

Picture | Pixabay

London (London) is the capital of the United Kingdom and the world's financial center. London is the political, economic, cultural, and financial center of the United Kingdom. It has the largest number of museums, libraries and stadiums in the world. In 2018, the GDP of the London region has reached 653.2 billion US dollars.

London is a leading world-class city in the world. It is one of the world’s wealthiest, most economically developed, business prosperous, and highest standard of living cities. It is in politics, economy, culture, education, technology, finance, business, sports, media, Fashion and other aspects affect the world and are a model of globalization.

Main City

1.London

The capital of the United Kingdom is the largest city and port in the United Kingdom, and one of the largest cities in the world. It is the center of politics, economy, culture, and transportation in the United Kingdom.

2.Edinburgh

The capital of Scotland. Firth of Forth is one of the four largest cities in Scotland and has the status of a "county". It is the center of justice, banking, insurance and investment in Scotland, as well as the center of academic and medical science.

3. Cardiff

The capital of Wales is the largest city in Wales and an important commercial center, service center and industrial center. Cardiff has become one of the most important ports in the UK due to its proximity to the Bristol Channel.

4. Belfast

The capital of Northern Ireland. It is an important industrial city and seaport in the UK, as well as an important commercial and transportation center.

5.Birmingham

Located at the southern end of the Pennine Mountains in central England, about 160 kilometers southeast of London. It has developed rapidly since the 16th century. It was destroyed by the plague in the 17th century and revived in the 18th century. It has now developed into the second largest city in the UK (after London), and is an important industrial center and transportation hub in the country.

6.Oxford

An ancient British city, located 87 kilometers northwest of London on the upper reaches of the Thames, it is now the capital of Oxfordshire. There is a famous Oxford University.

Picture | Pixabay

7. Cambridge

A city in southeastern England, the capital of Cambridgeshire, on the east bank of the Cam River, about 80 kilometers north of London. There are many places of interest, including the world-famous Cambridge University。

  Jet Lag

When Britain uses daylight saving time, Britain is 7 hours behind China.
When the United Kingdom uses Greenwich Mean Time, it is 8 hours behind China.

  Population

In 2018, the population of the UK reached 66.4 million. From 2017 to 2018, the population growth rate was only 0.6%. The top five most populous cities in the UK are: London, Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Sheffield.

  Nation

Britain is dominated by English people (Anglo-Saxons), accounting for 83.9% of the country's total population.

  Language

There is no official language in the UK, but English is actually the main language. There are other official languages outside of England. For example, Welsh is also used in northern Wales, and Gaelic is still used in parts of the Northwest Highlands of Scotland and Northern Ireland.

  Main Holiday

1. New Years Day / January 1st

2. St. Patrick's Day / March 17th every year-is a festival to commemorate Ireland's patron saint Patrick

3. Easter / the first Sunday after the full moon, April

4. May Day or Labour Day

5. the Spring Bank Holiday / Last Monday in May in the UK

6. Mother's Day / the second Sunday in May

7. Memorial Day / Nov 11th 11am

8. the Summer Bank Holiday / UK, last Monday in August

9. Hallowmas / November 1st

10. Thanksgiving Day / in the United States is the second Monday in November

11. Christmas Eve / December 24th

12. Christmas Day / December 25th

13, Boxing Day / the day after Christmas, if it falls on a Sunday, it will be postponed by one day

Picture | Pixabay

  Natural Resources

Water Resources

The average annual runoff of British rivers is about 159 billion cubic meters, and the per capita amount is about 2,700 cubic meters. The degree of industrialization in the UK is very high. The development and utilization of water resources is mainly to improve the domestic water consumption of urban and rural people, develop industry, inland navigation, aquaculture and water tourism.

Three-quarters of Britain’s fresh water is collected from mountain lakes, reservoirs and rivers. About a quarter of this is groundwater. The quality of drinking water is high.

Plant Resources

In 2011, the UK forest covered an area of 3.08 million hectares, accounting for 12.6% of the local area.

Animal Resources

Britain is rich in animal resources. In 2007, the British government began to implement a wildlife protection plan. As of 2007, there were 1,149 endangered wild animals in the UK, and hedgehogs, harvest rats, Atlantic salmon and sparrows were included for the first time.

Mineral Resources

The main mineral resources in the UK are coal, iron, oil and natural gas. The total reserves of hard coal are 170 billion tons. The iron reserves are about 3.8 billion tons. There are tin mines on the Cornwall Peninsula in the southwest. The oil reserves in the North Sea shelf of the United Kingdom are between 1 billion and 4 billion tons. The natural gas reserves are about 860-2,585 billion cubic meters.

  Major Industries

Britain is the fifth largest economic power in the world. It not only has a long history and solid foundation as the pioneer of the industrial revolution, but also continues to maintain a strong industrial strength and competitive advantage in the information age.

1. Chemical

Britain has the sixth largest chemical industry in the world and the fourth largest chemical industry in Europe. In 2005, the sales of the chemical industry in the 25 EU countries reached 613 billion euros, of which the United Kingdom accounted for 9.4%, ranking behind Germany, France and Italy.

2. Pharmaceutical Industry

The UK is one of the world's five largest pharmaceutical powers, and one-fifth of the world's top 100 prescription drugs are developed in the UK. In 2004, British pharmaceutical companies had 73,000 employees, and their related industries had 250,000 employees. Among the world's top 10 pharmaceutical companies, GlaxoSmithKline (2005 sales revenue of 21.66 billion pounds, R&D investment of 3.24 billion pounds) and AstraZeneca (2005 sales revenue of 13.95 billion pounds) , R&D investment of £1.97 billion) ranked 2nd and 7th respectively, with global market shares of 6.3% and 4.2% respectively.

3. Biotechnology

The British biotechnology industry ranks second in the world, after the United States. In 2005, there were 435 biotechnology companies with nearly 22,000 direct employees, most of whom were highly skilled technicians, with annual sales of 3 billion pounds and research and development expenses of 1 billion pounds.

4. Food and Beverage Industry

The food and beverage industry is the largest manufacturing sector in the UK. In 2005, the turnover reached 73 billion pounds, the number of employees was 464,000, and the number of enterprises was 6,987, accounting for 15.7%, 14.3% and 4.6% of the British manufacturing industry. Well-known companies include Diageo, Unilever, Cadbury Schweppes, Allied Domecq, Associated British Foods, Tate&Lyle ), Northern Foods and Diary Crest Dairy Group, as well as foreign multinational groups such as Nestle, Kellogg's, Kraft, Mars, Heinz, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, etc.

5. Electronic Industry

The British electronics industry takes the lead in Europe, with annual sales exceeding 40 billion pounds, ranking fifth in the world, with approximately 250,000 employees and approximately 10,000 electronics companies. According to a report by Reed Electronics Research, the output and market share of British electronic products rank second among Western European countries. The output of electronic data processing equipment accounts for 20.6% and the market accounts for 17.6%; the output of control and instrument equipment accounts for 14.9%. Accounted for 14.6%; consumer electronics output accounted for 14.5%, the market accounted for 21.5%; communication equipment output accounted for 19.7%, the market accounted for 27.8%; office equipment output accounted for 17.4%, the market accounted for 17.9%.

6. Software Industry

In 2006, the British software industry invested 13 billion pounds, accounting for 1.9% of GDP that year. The British software industry's contribution to the industry's Gross Value Added (Gross Value Added) reached 2.9%, surpassing that of the United States. The number of employees in the British Information Technology (IT) industry (excluding IT departments in other industries) exceeds 1.1 million, of which more than one-third are engaged in the software industry. There are currently more than 30,000 software companies in the UK.

The advantages of the British software industry include: database development, mobile communication technology, multimedia applications, entertainment software, virtual reality technology, etc., especially in real-time and high-security financial and financial software.

7. Environmental Protection Industry

According to the goals established by the British government, by 2010 and 2015, Britain’s renewable energy power generation will account for 10% and 15.4% of the total power generation, respectively, and carbon dioxide emissions will be reduced by 60% by 2050. Because of this, the environmental protection industry has developed rapidly in the UK in recent years. Britain has 17,000 enterprises of various types in the field of environmental technology, employing 400,000 people, and has an annual turnover of 25 billion pounds (2004). The advantages of the British environmental protection industry include clean technology, water treatment, air and land pollution control, marine pollution control, noise and vibration control, renewable energy, environmental monitoring, etc.

  Infrastructure

Railway

The British High Speed Railway was privatized in 1997. At the beginning of the 21st century, the total length of the British railway was 16,600 kilometers. In 2006, the total railway passenger volume was 46.497 billion person-km; the total freight volume was 22.1 billion ton-km. The National Railway and the London Underground respectively bear 49% and 44% of the railway system's traffic, and the rest is borne by the light rail.

Highway

The total length of British roads is 397,000 kilometers, of which 3701.5 kilometers are highways, which bear 21% of the traffic; 47,300 kilometers are Class A highways, which bear 45% of the traffic. As of the end of June 2019, the total number of registered motor vehicles was 38.7 million, and 728,000 new motor vehicles were added in the second quarter of 2019.

Water Transport

Inland waterways in the UK total 3,200 kilometers, of which 620 kilometers are used for freight. The Thames is the busiest inland water canal, followed by the Forth River. Sea transport undertakes 95% of foreign trade transportation. There are many large and small ports in the UK, of which 100 are important commercial ports, and 52 ports have an annual throughput of more than 1 million tons. Through the development of shipping finance and maritime services, the UK has maintained its status as a global shipping pricing center and management center. London is the headquarters of international shipping organizations such as the International Maritime Organization and the International Shipping Federation.

Air Transport

In 2007, there were more than 50 airlines with 952 aircraft in service, carrying 24.1 million passengers, passenger mileage of 314 billion kilometers, and freight transportation volume of 54.181 billion tons. British Airways (British Airways) is one of the world's largest airlines, with more than 300 aircraft, and its routes cover about 220 cities in more than 90 countries and regions. There are 449 airports in the UK, 35 of which have an annual passenger flow of more than 100,000. The largest airport in the UK is London Heathrow Airport, which is also one of the largest and busiest airports in Europe and the world, with 80.9 million passengers in 2019; Gatwick Airport is the second largest airport in the UK, with 46.6 million passengers in 2019 .

  Economic growth has been weak in recent years, and it will drop sharply in 2020

UK GDP growth rate trend chart over the years | TRADING ECONOMICS

In 2019, the total GDP of the United Kingdom was 2,214,889 million pounds, which is close to 2.83 trillion U.S. dollars (specifically 2,827.18 billion U.S. dollars) at the average exchange rate, ranking sixth in the world. In 2019, the per capita GDP of the UK is converted into US dollars, which is approximately 42,300 US dollars.

Affected by the epidemic, the GDP growth rate in 2020 will drop sharply. IMF World Economic Outlook: The UK GDP growth rate in 2020 is expected to be -10.2%.

 The growth of foreign exchange reserves has been weak in recent years

Trend chart of total foreign exchange reserves in the UK over the years | TRADING ECONOMICS

From 2011 to 2018, the UK's foreign exchange reserves grew steadily, but from 2019 to 2020, the growth was slow and weak.

  Unemployment rate hits record high

Due to the new crown epidemic, the UK will experience its worst recession in more than 300 years, and the unemployment rate is expected to be as high as 7.5%.

  Corporate income tax 19%

In 2020, the UK corporate income tax rate has been stable at around 19%.

  Personal income tax 45%

From 2018 to 2020, the UK personal income tax rate has been stable at around 45%.

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