Hong Kong's external merchandise trade statistics classified by country/territory and commodity for August 2003

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Content of press release

Further to the release of external merchandise trade statistics in aggregate terms for August 2003 earlier on, the Census and Statistics Department today (October 7) released detailed statistics on external merchandise trade with breakdown by country/territory and commodity for August 2003.

The values of Hong Kong's re-exports of goods to ten main destinations are shown in Table 1 (text version of table 1).

Comparing August 2003 with August 2002, the value of re-exports of goods to most of the major destinations increased: Singapore (+19.2%), the Republic of Korea (+18.5%), the mainland of China (the Mainland) (+16.3%), Germany (+12.1%), the Netherlands (+10.7%), Japan (+8.6%), Taiwan (+6.7%), the United Kingdom (+6.4%) and France (+5.2%).

However, the value of re-exports of goods to the United States of America fell, by 3.9%.

For the first eight months of 2003 as a whole, the value of re-exports of goods to most of the major destinations increased over a year earlier: Taiwan (+25.4%), the Mainland (+24.7%), the Netherlands (+22.0%), Germany (+20.8%), the Republic of Korea (+17.9%), Japan (+15.1%), Singapore (+11.4%), France (+8.4%) and the United Kingdom (+5.7%).

On the other hand, the value of re-exports of goods to the United States of America decreased marginally, by 0.6%.

Table 2 (text version of table 2) shows the values of re-exports of ten principal commodity divisions.

Comparing the first eight months of 2003 with the same period in 2002, increases were registered in the value of re-exports of "electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances, and electrical parts thereof" (by $37.4 billion or 24.6%), "telecommunications, sound recording and reproducing apparatus and equipment" (by $27.1 billion or 25.8%), "office machines and automatic data processing machines" (by $22.9 billion or 24.1%), "clothing" (by $5.9 billion or 8.5%), "photographic apparatus, equipment and supplies, optical goods, watches and clocks" (by $4.5 billion or 10.6%), "textiles" (by $3.6 billion or 6.2%) and "miscellaneous manufactured articles consisting mainly of baby carriages, toys, games and sporting goods" (by $3.6 billion or 3.6%).

The values of domestic exports of goods to ten main destinations are shown in Table 3 (text version of table 3) .

Comparing August 2003 with August 2002, decreases were recorded in the value of domestic exports of goods to the Netherlands (-18.6%), Canada (-8.3%), Taiwan (-7.3%), the Mainland (-4.4%), Singapore (-4.3%) and the Philippines (-0.9%).

Nevertheless, increases were registered in the value of domestic exports of goods to Germany (+13.5%), Japan (+3.5%), the United States of America (+2.3%) and the United Kingdom (+1.4%).

For the first eight months of 2003 as a whole, year-on-year decreases were recorded in the value of domestic exports of goods to the Netherlands (-31.5%), Taiwan (-25.8%), the Mainland (-14.6%), the United States of America (-8.9%), Japan(-6.7%), Singapore (-6.6%) and Canada (-2.0%).

On the other hand, increases were registered in the value of domestic exports of goods to Germany (+12.0%), the Philippines (+9.4%) and the United Kingdom (+5.3%).

Table 4 (text version of table 4) shows the values of domestic exports of ten principal commodity divisions.

Comparing the first eight months of 2003 with the same period in 2002, decreases were registered in the value of domestic exports of "electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances, and electrical parts thereof" (by $4.4 billion or 40.2%), "textiles" (by $881 million or 17.5%), "photographic apparatus, equipment and supplies, optical goods, watches and clocks" (by $759 million or 42.9%), "clothing" (by $566 million or 1.4%), "professional, scientific and controlling instruments and apparatus" (by $414 million or 30.7%) and "miscellaneous manufactured articles consisting mainly of jewellery, goldsmiths' and silversmiths' wares" (by $294 million or 3.1%).

Over the same period, an increase was recorded in the value of domestic exports of "metalliferous ores and metal scrap" (by $267 million or 33.1%).

The values of imports of goods from ten main suppliers are shown in Table 5 (text version of table 5).

Comparing August 2003 with August 2002, the value of imports of goods from all major suppliers showed increases of various magnitudes: the Philippines (+48.1%), Malaysia (+18.5%), Thailand (+15.9%), the Republic of Korea (+15.7%), Germany (+15.1%), Singapore (+10.5%), Japan (+9.7%), the Mainland (+6.1%), Taiwan (+2.2%) and the United States of America (+1.6%).

For the first eight months of 2003 as a whole, the value of imports of goods from all major suppliers showed increases of various magnitudes over a year earlier: the Philippines (+42.4%), Germany (+23.0%), Singapore (+20.4%), Japan (+18.0%), the Republic of Korea (+13.6%), Malaysia (+12.3%), Thailand (+11.1%), the Mainland (+10.3%), Taiwan (+5.9%) and the United States of America (+3.4%).

Table 6 (text version of table 6) shows the values of imports of ten principal commodity divisions.

Comparing the first eight months of 2003 with the same period in 2002, increases were registered in the value of imports of "electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances, and electrical parts thereof" (by $31.4 billion or 16.8%), "office machines and automatic data processing machines" (by $22.5 billion or 23.5%), "telecommunications, sound recording and reproducing apparatus and equipment" (by $18.6 billion or 17.0%), "miscellaneous manufactured articles consisting mainly of baby carriages, toys, games and sporting goods"?(by $5.2 billion or 7.2%), "plastics in primary forms" (by $4.1 billion or 16.1%), "textiles" (by $3.5 billion or 5.6%) and "non-metallic mineral manufactures" (by $2.7 billion or 8.0%).

Further information

All the merchandise trade statistics described here are measured at current prices and no account has been taken of changes in prices between the periods of comparison.

A separate analysis of the volume and price movements of external merchandise trade for August 2003 will be released in late October 2003.

Detailed merchandise trade statistics analysed by commodity and by country/territory are published in merchandise trade statistics reports.

The August 2003 issue of the "Hong Kong External Merchandise Trade" contains detailed analyses on the performance of Hong Kong's external merchandise trade in August 2003. This publication will be available, in both hardcopy and softcopy (in PDF format), around 16 October 2003 for sale at HK$55. It can be purchased online at the "Statistical Bookstore, Hong Kong" (http://www.statisticalbookstore.gov.hk) where purchasers can enjoy a special 25% discount from now until 29 February 2004. Purchase through mail order can be made by returning a completed order form which can be downloaded from the C&SD's website (http://www.info.gov.hk/censtatd/eng/prod_serv/forms_index.html). Purchase in person can be made at the Publications Unit of the C&SD (Address: 19/F, Wanchai Tower, 12 Harbour Road, Wan Chai; Tel.: 2582 3025).

Enquiries on merchandise trade statistics may be directed to the Census and Statistics Department (Tel.: 2582 4915).

End/Tuesday, October 7, 2003

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