Manchester and China: the opportunity that keeps on growing

Around 800 Manchester businesses are already exporting to China. That was one of the key numbers I wrote down at last week’s Manchester-China Business Forum, and it changed the way I thought about the afternoon.

It’s easy to talk about China as a huge, distant opportunity. It’s more useful to recognise that businesses here are already growing customers and relationships year on year over there. The interesting question is what comes next, not only for exporters, but for our services businesses, investors and the wider Greater Manchester and North West economy.

This forum, held on 24 September, brought those different perspectives into one room. Organised by the China-Britain Business Council (CBBC) with Invest Manchester, Manchester China Forum and Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, it looked at both sides of the relationship: opportunities in China for North West businesses, and opportunities here for Chinese companies and investors.

The export success story

The UK exported £31.4 billion of goods and services to China in 2025, according to the government’s market guide and China was the UK’s sixth-largest export market. This shows that this is a substantial trading relationship, with local businesses growing increasingly confident that China is a priority when looking to expand internationally.

Goods remain an important part of the picture. As China’s middle- and higher-income consumers increasingly look for quality, there is an opening for businesses that understand their customers and can offer something distinctive. The UK’s leading goods exports to China in the year to the first quarter of 2026 included cars worth £3.5 billion and medicinal and pharmaceutical products worth £2.1 billion. That gives a sense of the range and scale of what is already being sold.

But “China” isn’t a customer profile. Any UK business still needs to know which buyers it wants to reach, what they value, and whether it has a practical route to them. A brilliant product and a vague export plan are two different things.

Services could be the bigger conversation

The part of the forum I kept returning to was services.

It was interesting and reassuring to learn that healthcare, education, design and the creative industries are all in high demand. These are areas where UK expertise can gain traction as China’s economy and its consumers’ expectations continue to develop. It’s an opportunity that can be less visible than a shipment of physical goods, but potentially just as valuable.

The figures make that point. UK services exports to China totalled £13.2 billion in the year to the end of 2025. Education-related personal travel accounted for £6.5 billion, while technical, trade-related and other business services contributed £1.2 billion. These are established commercial links, not simply sectors we hope might become relevant one day.

Nor does a services export always mean opening an office overseas. It might be a training partnership, specialist advice, a design project or expertise delivered alongside a local organisation. The right model will depend on the sector and the people involved.

There are already examples of that approach. The Royal College of Surgeons of England is working with healthcare institutions in China on surgical education and training standards. For me, that illustrates the question Greater Manchester’s service businesses should be asking: what do we know or do exceptionally well that a partner in China would find valuable?

The investment is here, too

The second panel turned the lens around, looking at Chinese investment and business opportunities in Greater Manchester. This is a side of the relationship that deserves just as much attention as exports.

Manchester China Forum shared that, since it was established in 2013, Chinese firms have invested in projects with a combined development value of more than £6 billion across Greater Manchester. It points to the Far East Consortium’s £1 billion investment in the Northern Gateway regeneration project and the £1 billion Airport City development, which involved Beijing Construction Engineering Group as a major equity partner. Those are concrete examples of how international relationships can shape the region itself.

At the event, it was interesting (and reassuring) to learn deeply about the huge focus going into renewables and climate-tech. Investment in those fields can bring capital, but the more interesting prospect is what happens around it: jobs, technology, supply-chain knowledge and opportunities for local firms to contribute.

That’s where the next conversation needs to go. When an international business invests here in the UK, how do we connect it with the right local suppliers, skills and partners? How do we make sure the value reaches beyond the initial deal?

A star studded cast

This event worked well as it combined big-picture perspectives with people close to the practical work of doing business across borders. The keynote speakers were Peter Wilson CMG, HM Ambassador to China; Minister Yu Benlin, Minister for Economic and Commercial Affairs at the Chinese Embassy in the UK; and Sir Sebastian Wood KCMG, Chair of CBBC.

The two panels then got into opportunities for Greater Manchester and North West businesses in China, followed by Chinese investment in our region. The event brought together perspectives from organisations including CBBC, Invest Manchester, Manchester China Forum, Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, HSBC, Manchester Airport Group, Bank of China and Deloitte.

I want to say a big thanks to Jim, Pippa and Jie Wu at CBBC for the invite, and everyone involved in running the forum. It was a great mix of people in the room during the event and the networking afterwards.

Our NEXUS takeaway

At NEXUS, we’re focused on helping businesses scale and operate internationally with minimal friction. This forum was a strong reminder that the two don’t happen automatically.

The opportunity between Greater Manchester and China is sizeable, but it becomes meaningful one business, one partner and one well-defined project at a time. For an exporter, that might mean finding the right route to a particular group of buyers. For a services firm, it might mean identifying a partner who can help deliver its expertise locally. For an investor coming to Manchester, it might mean building relationships with suppliers and talent already here.

Businesses need as much support as possible to make this happen and that's where we come in with our global network of partners on the ground who can open doors and act as trusted guides in new territories. So if you're looking to expand into China, or other markets and need a trusted partner, then a first call to see how we can work together makes sense to kick things off.

This was an excellent event and I look forward to the next one in Manchester - because it seems like we are just scratching the surface of what is possible in terms of inwards and outwards trade and investment - and there's a lot more to come on both sides of the table.

Until next time