Hong Kong’s total exports and imports up

The year-on-year increases for exports and imports were 6.8% and 14.1% respectively.

The Census and Statistics Department said, “In August 2011, the value of total exports of goods (comprising re-exports and domestic exports) increased by 6.8% over a year earlier to $309.9 billion, after a year-on-year increase of 9.3% in July 2011.”

Meanwhile the value of imports of goods increased by 14.1% over a year earlier to $344.7 billion in August 2011, after a year-on-year increase of 10.2% in July 2011. “A visible trade deficit of $34.8 billion, equivalent to 10.1% of the value of imports of goods, was recorded in August 2011,” said the Department.

The external merchandise trade statistics for August 2011 revealed that total exports to Asia as a whole grew by 7.3% compared to August 2010. The Census and Statistics Department said, “In this region, strong increases were registered in the values of total exports to most major destinations, in particular Taiwan (+41.0%), Vietnam (+34.9%), Thailand (+31.4%), Korea (+18.6%) and Japan (+12.3%). The value of total exports to the mainland of China (the Mainland) also rose by 3.4%.”

There were also increases in the values of total exports to some major destinations in other regions, in particular Germany (+13.4%) and the United Kingdom (+1.2%). It was noted however that a decrease was registered in the value of total exports to the USA (-3.9%).

As for imports, increases were registered from most major suppliers, in particular Switzerland (+63.9%), India (+28.4%), the USA (+23.8%), Thailand (+17.5%) and the Mainland (+11.3%). A decrease was registered in the value of imports from Malaysia (-6.7%).

Comparing August 2011 with the same period last year, increases were registered in the values of total exports of some principal commodity divisions, in particular "telecommunications and sound recording and reproducing apparatus and equipment" (by $7.5 billion or 14.7%), "office machines and automatic data processing machines" (by $3.2 billion or 9.6%) and "non-ferrous metals" (by $2.5 billion or 54.8%).

Decreases however were registered in the values of total exports of "electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances, and electrical parts thereof" (by $1.6 billion or -2.0%) and "articles of apparel and clothing accessories" (by $0.7 billion or -3.5%).

Increases were registered in the values of imports of most principal commodity divisions, in particular "telecommunications and sound recording and reproducing apparatus and equipment" (by $9.7 billion or 23.0%), "miscellaneous manufactured articles (mainly baby carriages, toys, games and sporting goods)" (by $5.0 billion or 26.6%) and "non-metallic mineral manufactures" (by $3.7 billion or 32.8%).

As for decreases, they were registered in the values of imports of "plastics in primary forms" (by $0.8 billion or -11.8%) and "textile yarn, fabrics, made-up articles and related products" (by $0.2 billion or -2.8%).