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External merchandise trade statistics for January 2012
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     The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) released today (February 23) the external merchandise trade statistics for January 2012.  In January 2012, the values of Hong Kong's total exports and imports of goods both fell markedly, by 8.6% and 10.5% respectively.

     In January 2012, the value of total exports of goods (comprising re-exports and domestic exports) decreased by 8.6% over a year earlier to $259.3 billion, after a year-on-year increase of 7.4% in December 2011.  Within this total, the value of re-exports decreased by 7.9% to $255.6 billion in January 2012, while the value of domestic exports decreased by 39.7% to $3.7 billion.  Concurrently, the value of imports of goods decreased by 10.5% over a year earlier to $268.2 billion in January 2012, after a year-on-year increase of 8.1% in December 2011.  A visible trade deficit of $8.9 billion, equivalent to 3.3% of the value of imports of goods, was recorded in January 2012.

     Comparing the three-month period ending January 2012 with the preceding three months on a seasonally adjusted basis, the value of total exports of goods rose by 0.8%.  Within this total, the value of re-exports increased by 1.0%, whereas the value of domestic exports went down by 9.0%.  Meanwhile, the value of imports of goods decreased by 0.3%.

Analysis by country/territory

     Comparing January 2012 with January 2011, total exports to Asia as a whole went down by 11.8%.  In this region, substantial decreases were registered in the values of total exports to some major destinations, in particular Taiwan (-27.3%), Singapore (-26.0%), Thailand (-23.9%), India (-14.7%) and the mainland of China (the Mainland) (-12.6%).

     Apart from destinations in Asia, decreases were also registered in the values of total exports to some major destinations in other regions, in particular Germany (-8.6%) and the USA (-4.0%).

     Over the same period of comparison, substantial decreases were registered in the values of imports from most major suppliers, in particular Thailand (-36.0%), Taiwan (-23.9%), Korea (-19.3%), Japan (-15.5%) and the Mainland (-10.6%).

     Comparing the three months ending January 2012 with the three months ending January 2011, year-on-year increases were registered in the values of total exports to some major destinations, in particular Vietnam (+30.5%), Japan (+2.1%), Taiwan (+1.5%) and the Mainland (+0.5%).  Concurrently, year-on-year decreases were registered in the values of total exports to some major destinations, in particular the United Kingdom (-11.4%), India (-5.5%), Korea (-4.8%) and the USA (-4.2%).

     Over the same period of comparison, year-on-year increases were registered in the values of imports from some major suppliers, in particular Switzerland (+42.0%), the USA (+14.4%), Singapore (+4.1%), Korea (+2.8%) and the Mainland (+0.6%).  However, year-on-year decreases were registered in the values of imports from some major suppliers, in particular Thailand (-33.9%), Japan (-6.8%) and Malaysia (-3.3%).

Analysis by major commodity

     Comparing January 2012 with January 2011, decreases were registered in the values of total exports of some principal commodity divisions, in particular "electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances, and electrical parts thereof" (by $6.9 billion or -9.3%), "office machines and automatic data processing machines" (by $3.3 billion or -9.3%) and "textile yarn, fabrics, made-up articles and related products" (by $2.3 billion or -31.5%).

     Over the same period of comparison, decreases were registered in the values of imports of some principal commodity divisions, in particular "electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances, and electrical parts thereof" (by $18.3 billion or -22.8%), "articles of apparel and clothing accessories" (by $2.4 billion or -17.3%) and "textile yarn, fabrics, made-up articles and related products" (by $2.3 billion or -34.9%).

     Comparing the three months ending January 2012 with the three months ending January 2011, year-on-year increases were registered in the values of total exports of some principal commodity divisions, in particular "electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances, and electrical parts thereof" (by $27.4 billion or 13.6%), "miscellaneous manufactured articles (mainly baby carriages, toys, games and sporting goods" (by $4.9 billion or 8.3%) and "non-metallic mineral manufactures" (by $4.5 billion or 15.8%).

     Over the same period of comparison, year-on-year increases were registered in the values of imports of some principal commodity divisions, in particular "telecommunications and sound recording and reproducing apparatus and equipment" (by $8.4 billion or 6.5%), "electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances, and electrical parts thereof" (by $7.7 billion or 3.3%) and "miscellaneous manufactured articles (mainly baby carriages, toys, games and sporting goods" (by $7.3 billion or 12.2%).

Commentary

     A Government spokesman noted that the value of merchandise exports relapsed to a notable year-on-year decline in January 2012, with deceleration seen across all the major markets.  This was partly due to the distortions brought about by the difference in timing of the Lunar New Year, which fell in late January this year but in early February last year.  It would be more meaningful to analyse the trade figures for January and February combined for a clearer picture of the underlying trend.

     The spokesman commented further that looking ahead, Hong Kong's export outlook remains bleak in the near term, as the evolving eurozone debt crisis continues to plague the global economic outlook and weigh on the import demand there as well as Asia's production activities.  We will stay vigilant and monitor the developments closely.

Further information

     Table 1 at the annex presents the analysis of external merchandise trade statistics for January 2012.  Table 2 presents the original monthly trade statistics from January 2009 to January 2012, and Table 3 gives the seasonally adjusted series for the same period.

     The values of total exports of goods to ten main destinations for January 2012 are shown in Table 4, whereas the values of imports of goods from ten main suppliers are given in Table 5.

     Table 6 and 7 show the values of total exports and imports of ten principal commodity divisions for January 2012.

     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 January 2012 will be released in mid-March 2012.

     The January 2012 issue of "Hong Kong External Merchandise Trade" contains detailed analysis on the performance of Hong Kong's external merchandise trade in January 2012.  Detailed merchandise trade statistics analysed by commodity and by country/territory are published in the January 2012 issue of "Hong Kong Merchandise Trade Statistics".  The two publications will be available in mid-March 2012.  Users can download them free of charge at the website of the C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/products_and_services/products/publications/statistical_report/external_trade/index.jsp).

     Enquiries on merchandise trade statistics may be directed to Trade Analysis Section (1) of the C&SD (Tel.: 2582 5042).

Ends/Thursday, February 23, 2012
Issued at HKT 16:38

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