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In the second quarter of 2009, the value of domestic exports classified to the five major industries including computer, electronic and optical products ($3.3 billion); chemicals and chemical products ($2.0 billion); wearing apparel ($1.1 billion); paper and paper products, and printing and reproduction of recorded media ($0.9 billion); and basic metals ($0.8 billion) together accounted for 58% of Hong Kong's total domestic exports, according to statistics released today (August 6) by the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD).
Comparing the value of domestic exports originated from the above major industries in the second quarter of 2009 with that a year earlier, decreases were recorded in all these industries. The wearing apparel industry had the largest decrease in percentage terms (-$4.8 billion or -81.9%), followed by the basic metals industry (-$1.5 billion or -65.3%); the paper and paper products, and printing and reproduction of recorded media industry (-$0.3 billion or -23.2%); the computer, electronic and optical products industry (-$0.9 billion or -21.2%); and the chemicals and chemical products industry (-$0.5 billion or -18.7%).
The above statistics on domestic exports classified by industrial origin are derived by re-grouping the merchandise domestic export items originally grouped under the external trade classification system according to the industries in which these merchandise items are normally produced. Transactions in gold and specie are not included.
Caution should be taken when referring to these domestic export statistics classified by industrial origin. There may be several intermediate processing stages in the production of certain merchandise domestic export items. In compiling the above statistics, the total value of such an item has however been wholly related to the industry in which the item is finally produced. Moreover, the above domestic export statistics relating to a particular industry may include products which are produced by establishments of other industries as secondary products.
The attached table shows the domestic export statistics classified by industrial origin.
The industrial classification used is the Hong Kong Standard Industrial Classification (HSIC), which is to be distinguished from the United Nations Standard International Trade Classification (SITC) used in the regular trade statistics reports. In comparison, the HSIC is more related to production processes whereas the SITC is more geared to end uses of products.
Upon the implementation for the new HSIC Version 2.0 by the C&SD in October 2008, the statistics on domestic exports classified by industrial origin are compiled based on the HSIC Version 2.0 starting from the first quarter of 2009. The series of such statistics under the HSIC Version 2.0 has also been backcasted to the first quarter of 2005. Users who are interested in the backcasted series or have enquiries on the statistics may contact the Industrial Production and Tourism Statistics Section of the C&SD (Tel: 2805 6643; Fax: 2123 1048; E-mail: ind-production@censtatd.gov.hk).
Ends/Thursday, August 6, 2009
Issued at HKT 16:31
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