Hong Kong's total goods exports in the first seven months of
this year grew 8.9 percent on the same period in 2005.
According to a government press release Friday, within this
total, re-exports rose 7.9 percent and domestic exports grew by
26.6 percent while imports of goods rose 10.9 percent.
A visible trade deficit of 85.2 billion HK dollars (US$10.92
billion), equivalent to 6.0 percent of the value of imports of
goods, was recorded in the first seven months of 2006.
Total goods exports grew to 219.6 billion HK dollars (US$28.15
billion) in July, up 10.7 percent on the same month last year.
Goods imports rose to 224.7 billion HK dollars (US$28.81 billion),
up 11.4 percent and marking a 5.2 billion HK dollars (US$666.7
million) visible trade deficit.
Merchandise exports grew faster in July, showing the Chinese
mainland market's buoyance, and continued improvement in other East
Asian markets. Exports to the US showed a moderate rebound, but
those to the Europe and Japan were slack.
Concurrently, significant increases were recorded in domestic
exports to most major destinations, particularly Italy (264.3
percent), Germany (132 percent) and the Netherlands (129.8
percent).
Over the same comparison periods, increases were recorded in
imports from all major suppliers, particularly Taiwan (26.3
percent), Singapore (21.1 percent), Thailand (20.7 percent) and the
Chinese mainland (12.1 percent).
(Xinhua News Agency August 26, 2006)