Exports down 22.7% to $269.4b in January

The drop in values was blamed on the timing difference of the Lunar New Year.

Hong Kong’s value of exports fell 22.7% YoY to $269.4b in January to overturn the 3.3% YoY increase recorded in December 2019, according to data from the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD). Meanwhile, the value of imports dropped 16.4% YoY to $300b in January 2020 to extend the 1.9% YoY decline recorded in December 2019.

A trade deficit of $30.6b, equivalent to 10.2% of the value of imports of goods, was recorded in January 2020.

Also read: Total exports up 3.8% in December 2019

The drop in export values was blamed on the difference in timing of the Lunar New Year, which fell in late January this year but in early February last year, according to a government spokesperson.

The spokesperson added that Hong Kong’s merchandise exports will face a very austere external trading environment in the coming few months on the back of the coronavirus outbreak.

“Of particular concern is the threat of the novel coronavirus infection, which will heavily weigh on regional production and trading activities,” a government spokesperson noted in the C&SD press release.

Comparing January 2020 to the same month a year ago, total exports to Asia as a whole went down by 21%. In this region, decreases were registered in the values of total exports to most major destinations. In particular, export volumes to Japan fell by 28.2% YoY, followed by Malaysia (-23.6%) and mainland China.(-21.4%).

Exports volumes to Taiwan (-21.3%), Thailand (-19.8%), Vietnam (-19.7%) and Singapore (-18.8%) also recorded declines.

Apart from destinations in Asia, export volumes to the UK, US and Germany also decreased by 37.4% YoY, 33% YoY, and 19.4% YoY, respectively.

Over the same period, declines were also recorded in the value of imports to Mainland China, (-25.1%), the USA (-16.6%), Malaysia (-15.1%) and Japan (-4.9%).

In contrast, increases were recorded in the values of imports from Vietnam and the UK, up by 20.5% YoY and 14.9% YoY, respectively.

By sector, export values of electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances, and electrical parts thereof dropped by $19.8b or 15.4% YoY. The export values of telecommunications and sound recording and reproducing apparatus and equipment also fell by $15.4b or 24.2% YoY.

Other exports that recorded declines include: office machines and automatic data processing machines (by $8.7b or -24.1%) and miscellaneous manufactured articles, mainly jewellery, goldsmiths' and silversmiths' wares (by $5.1b or -24.7%).