The United Kingdom is an important manufacturing and
trading nation. In
fact, the country can survive only by manufacturing
and trading. The
United Kingdom's farms produce only about two-thirds
of the food needed
by the people. Except for coal, natural gas, and oil,
the United Kingdom
has few natural resources. The country must import
about a third of its
food and many of the raw materials it needs for
manufacturing.
Service industries account for about 70 percent of the
United Kingdom's
gross domestic product (GDP). The GDP is the total
value of goods and
services produced within the country annually. About
75 percent of British
workers are employed in service industries. The
country's service
industries are concentrated in and near its largest
cities, especially
London.
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Finance, insurance, real estate, and business services
contribute a larger
portion of the United Kingdom's GDP than any other
service industry
group. Most of the country's financial companies
operate in London, one of
the world's leading financial cities. Major financial
institutions in London
include the Bank of England, the United Kingdom's
national bank; the
London Stock Exchange; and Lloyd's of London insurance
society. The
United Kingdom has many firms that offer such business
services as
accounting, advertising, data processing, and
engineering.
Community, government, and personal services rank
second among the
service industries of the United Kingdom in terms of
the GDP. This group
employs more people than any other industry in the
country. It includes
such activities as education, health care, legal
services, and military
operations.
Trade, hotels, and restaurants rank next among the
service industries.
Aberdeen and London are important centers of petroleum
distribution.
Leeds is the chief center for the wholesale trade of
clothing. Tourist
activities in the United Kingdom, especially in the
London area, provide
important income to hotels, restaurants, and retail
shops. Tourists spend
over $20 billion yearly in the United Kingdom.
Utilities provide electric power and water services to
people of the United
Kingdom. The United Kingdom's other service
industries, transportation
and communication, are discussed later in this
section.
Manufacturing. The United Kingdom is a leading
industrial nation. Most
British industries are in central England, the London
area, the Scottish
Central Lowlands, the Newcastle upon Tyne area, and
southern Wales.
Early factories were located near the coal fields
because coal powered the
steam engines that moved the machinery. Today, the use
of electricity,
oil, and gas has enabled many new industries to
develop far from the coal
fields, especially in southern England.
The United Kingdom ranks as an important
steel-producing country. It
exports nearly half of its finished steel. The rest is
used in the United
Kingdom to make hundreds of products. Much steel is
used in the
manufacture of automobiles, buses, trucks, and
motorcycles.
The United Kingdom also produces heavy machinery for
industry, farming,
and mining. The country is one of the world's largest
producers of
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tractors. Other products include cranes, earth movers,
road graders,
harvesters, and drilling machines. British factories
also make railway
equipment, household appliances, and machine tools.
The city of Sheffield
is famous for its high-quality knives and hand tools.
British Aerospace makes a wide range of jet aircraft.
It is the largest
aerospace company in Europe. Space satellites and
weapons defense
systems are also produced in the United Kingdom.
Aerospace equipment
and heavy machinery are major British exports.
An increasing percentage of the United Kingdom's
manufactured goods
consists of sophisticated electronic equipment. Much
of this equipment is
exported. Factories produce such items as cable
television equipment,
data processing equipment, fiber-optic communications
systems, radar
devices, and undersea telephone cables.
The chemical industry in the United Kingdom produces a
variety of
products-from industrial chemicals to plastics and
soap. The United
Kingdom is the fourth largest exporter of
pharmaceuticals. The country's
pottery industry is centered in Stoke-on-Trent.
Outstanding names in
British pottery include Worcester, Spode, and
Wedgwood.
The United Kingdom is one of the world's chief centers
of printing and
publishing. British companies print paper money and
postage stamps for
many countries. Books published in the United Kingdom
are exported to
countries throughout the world.
The Industrial Revolution began in the United
Kingdom's textile industry.
Today, the United Kingdom remains an important
producer of cotton and
woolen textiles. British manufacturers also make
synthetic fibers and
fabrics. England's east Midlands region is a center
for the production of
lace and knitwear. Cotton and wool are produced in
northern England.
Scotland produces knitwear and is famous for its fine
woolen products.
Northern Ireland has a worldwide reputation for its
linen goods.
The United Kingdom has one of Europe's largest
clothing industries. The
biggest centers are Leicester, Leeds, London, and
Manchester. British
clothing has long been famous for its quality. But
today, the United
Kingdom imports more clothing than it exports because
many countries
with lower labor costs can produce clothing more
cheaply than the British
can.
26
Processing of foods and beverages ranks as one of the
United Kingdom's
major industries. Most processed foods and beverages
are consumed in
the United Kingdom. But some are exported. Scotch
whisky has a large
world market. Other British industries manufacture
bricks and cement,
furniture, leather goods, glassware, and paper.
Agriculture. The United Kingdom imports about a third
of its food supply.
The imports include avocados, bananas, citrus fruits,
peppers, pineapples,
and other items that cannot be easily grown in the
United Kingdom's
climate.
Farmland covers about 70 percent of the United
Kingdom's land area. The
nation has about 240,000 farms. About two-thirds of
the United
Kingdom's farmers own the farms on which they live.
The rest rent their
farms. About half the people who operate or work on
farms do so on a
part-time basis.
Many British farmers practice mixed farming-that is,
they raise a variety
of crops and animals. Methods of mixed farming vary
from farm to farm.
In the rough highlands of Scotland, Wales, and western
England, grass
grows much better than farm crops. There, farmers use
most of their land
for grazing. The land in southern and eastern England
is drier and flatter,
and it is more easily worked. Farmers in eastern
England use most of their
land for raising crops.
The United Kingdom's most important crops are barley,
potatoes,
rapeseed, sugar beets, and wheat. Farmers in southern
and eastern
England grow almost all the country's rapeseed, sugar
beets, and wheat
and most of its barley. Potatoes are grown throughout
the United
Kingdom. Farmers in southern England grow most of the
United
Kingdom's fruits and garden vegetables. One of the
most productive
regions is the county of Kent in southeastern England.
It is called the
Garden of England and is famous for the beautiful
blossoms of its apple
and cherry orchards in springtime. Farmers in Kent
also grow hops, which
are used in making beer.
Sheep are the United Kingdom's chief livestock.
Farmers in almost every
part of the country raise sheep for meat and wool.
British farmers also
raise beef cattle, dairy cattle, and hogs. Chickens
are raised mainly in
special mass-production plants.
27
Mining. The United Kingdom is a major world producer
of petroleum,
coal, and natural gas. These three fuels account for
about 85 percent of
the value of total mineral production in the country.
Petroleum is the United Kingdom's most valuable
mineral. British oil wells
produce more than 800 million barrels of petroleum a
year. In the past,
the country had to import petroleum to meet its needs.
But during the
1970's, the United Kingdom began producing petroleum
from wells in the
North Sea. Today, the United Kingdom's oil wells
provide nearly all the
petroleum that the country uses and also supply
petroleum for export.
The United Kingdom's largest coal-mining region lies
near the River Trent
in central England. Coal from this area is an
important fuel source for the
country's electric power plants.
The United Kingdom obtains natural gas from deposits
below the North
Sea. These deposits provide enough gas to meet most of
the country's
needs.
The United Kingdom's next most important minerals, in
order of value, are
sand and gravel, limestone, and clays. The Southwest
Peninsula has fine
china clay, used in making pottery. Southeastern
England has large
deposits of chalk, used for cement. Other British
minerals include
sandstone and gypsum.
Fishing. The United Kingdom is an important fishing
nation. The British
fishing industry supplies about 925,000 short tons
(840,000 metric tons)
of fish yearly. About half this catch comes from the
waters surrounding
the United Kingdom, especially the North Sea. The
principal catches
include cod, haddock, herring, mackerel, plaice, and
whiting. Large
catches of shellfish are also brought in. The main
fishing ports are on the
east coast and in the southwestern part of the island
of Great Britain.
Fish farms in the United Kingdom produce salmon,
trout, and shellfish.
Scotland is especially known for its salmon farms.
Energy sources. Fuel-burning plants provide about 70
percent of the
United Kingdom's electric power. Nuclear energy
provides most of the
remaining electric power. In 1956, the United Kingdom
opened the world's
first large-scale nuclear power station at Calder
Hall, Cumbria, in
northwestern England. Natural gas fields under the
North Sea provide
28
most of the country's natural gas needs. Petroleum
deposits off the coast
of Scotland supply enough oil to meet the United
Kingdom's needs.
International trade. The United Kingdom ranks as a
leading trading
nation. The country once imported chiefly raw materials
and exported
mostly manufactured products. However, manufactured
goods now
account for about 85 percent of British imports and
about 80 percent of its
exports.
The United Kingdom exports aerospace equipment,
chemicals and
pharmaceuticals, foods and beverages, machinery, motor
vehicles,
petroleum, and scientific and medical equipment. Its
imports include
chemicals, clothing, foods (especially fruit,
vegetables, meat, coffee, and
tea), machinery, metals, motor vehicles, paper and
newsprint, petroleum
products, and textiles.
Most of the United Kingdom's trade is with other
developed countries,
especially other members of an organization known as
the European
Union. France, Germany, and the United States are the
United Kingdom's
leading customers and suppliers. Other major trade
partners include
Belgium, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, and
Switzerland.
The value of the United Kingdom's imports of goods
usually exceeds the
value of its exports. British banks and insurance
companies make up part
of the difference by selling their services to people
and firms in other
lands. Another important source of income is the
spending by the more
than 15 million tourists who visit the United Kingdom
each year. The
British merchant fleet also brings in money by carrying
cargoes for other
countries. The income from all these invisible exports
exceeds $200 billion
a year.
Transportation. Roads and railways carry most
passenger and freight
traffic within the United Kingdom. A system of
high-speed motorways links
major cities and towns. Bus systems provide local and
intercity
transportation. Lorries (trucks) carry about 80
percent of the inland
freight.
An extensive rail network crisscrosses the United
Kingdom. The railroads
provide high-speed passenger service, as well as
freight hauling.
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The United Kingdom has a large merchant fleet. The
ships in the fleet
carry British-made goods to ports throughout the world
and bring back
needed imports. British ships also carry freight for
other countries. There
are about 80 ports of commercial significance
throughout the United
Kingdom.
The country's inland waterways are used to carry
freight, as well as for
recreational boating. The Thames, which flows through
London, is the
United Kingdom's busiest river and one of the busiest
in the world.
Ferry services connect coastal and island communities
in the United
Kingdom. Hovercraft (vehicles that ride over water on
a cushion of air)
carry passengers mainly across the English Channel
between England
and France. In 1987, work began on a railroad tunnel
to link the United
Kingdom and France beneath the channel. This railroad
tunnel opened in
1994.
British Airways, the United Kingdom's largest airline,
operates flights to all
parts of the world. Smaller airlines provide service
within the United
Kingdom and to other countries. The United Kingdom's
largest airports are
Heathrow and Gatwick, both near London, and those at
Birmingham,
Glasgow, and Manchester.
Communication. The United Kingdom has about 100 daily
newspapers.
About 15 have nationwide circulation. Their main
offices are in London.
The Sun and the Daily Mirror have the largest
circulations. Leading papers
include The Times, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph,
and The
Independent.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), a public
corporation, provides
commercial-free radio and television service. The BBC
is financed chiefly
by yearly licenses that people must buy to own a
television set. Television
stations controlled by the Independent Television
Commission and radio
stations controlled by the Radio Authority broadcast
commercials, but
advertisers do not sponsor programs.
The British Post Office provides many services in
addition to handling mail.
For example, local post offices sell TV licenses, dog
licenses, and national
insurance stamps. People can draw pensions and family
allowances and
also bank their savings at the country's post offices.
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