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Revision of principal postage rates and postal fees
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     The Government announced today (July 11) that the Postmaster General (PMG) will adjust the principal postage rates with effect from October 1, 2013. In addition, the Post Office (Amendment) Regulation 2013 will be tabled in the Legislative Council for adjusting certain postal fees under the Post Office Regulations (Cap. 98A) with effect from December 1, 2013.

     "Hongkong Post has been committed to implementing various measures to generate revenue and reduce costs. However, the increase in operating revenue has not been sufficient to offset escalating operating costs, in particular, the major cost components (including staff costs, air conveyance costs and terminal dues payments) have increased notably in recent years. The financial performance of the Post Office Trading Fund (POTF) has been deteriorating since 2007-08 and it started to incur an operating loss in 2011-12," said the spokesman for Hongkong Post.

     "For the various postal services covered by this revision exercise, their fees rates have not been adjusted for more than 10 years and all of them are operating at a loss. As we expect that the operating costs will continue to increase, if timely adjustments are not made to the principal postages and other postal fees, the operating loss would further increase and the reserve of the POTF would be depleted after 2015-16. This would seriously affect the daily operation of Hongkong Post."

     After the adjustments, the postage rates in Hong Kong will remain fairly low: the postage for local letters of 30 grams or less will be adjusted from $1.4 to $1.7, with an actual increase of 30 cents only. For air mail, the postage for sending letters of 20 grams or less to places such as the Mainland and Singapore will be adjusted from $2.4 to $2.9. For surface mail, the postage for sending letters of 20 grams or less to the Mainland will be adjusted from $1.8 to $2.2, whilst that to Singapore will be adjusted from $2.3 to $2.8.

     "The postage rates in Hong Kong will remain relatively low after the adjustments when compared with the postage rates in other places, and the quality of our postal service is very high. The impact of the adjustments on the Composite Consumer Price Index is immaterial," the spokesman for Hongkong Post added.

     The Post Office (Amendment) Regulation 2013 will be tabled in the Legislative Council for adjusting certain postal fees under the Post Office Regulations (Cap. 98A), including the rental fees for postal boxes and private bag, fees for redirection of postal packets, fees for registration and compulsory registration as well as fee for recorded delivery.

     "We will continue to strive to control costs and provide postal services that meet users' needs", said the spokesman for Hongkong Post.

     Details of postage rate/postal fee adjustments are attached.

Ends/Thursday, July 11, 2013
Issued at HKT 16:01

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