Further to the external merchandise trade statistics in value terms for July 2022 released earlier on, the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) released today (September 19) the volume and price statistics of external merchandise trade for that month.
 
     In July 2022, the volume of Hong Kong's total exports of goods and imports of goods decreased by 16.2% and 16.9% respectively over July 2021.
 
     Comparing the first seven months of 2022 with the same period in 2021, the volume of Hong Kong's total exports of goods and imports of goods decreased by 8.8% and 8.3% respectively.
 
     Comparing the three-month period ending July 2022 with the preceding three months on a seasonally adjusted basis, the volume of total exports of goods decreased by 4.7%, while the volume of imports of goods increased by 0.8%.
 
     Changes in volume of external merchandise trade are derived from changes in external merchandise trade value with the effect of price changes discounted.
 
     Comparing July 2022 with July 2021, the prices of total exports of goods and imports of goods increased by 9.2% and 8.5% respectively.
 
     As regards price changes in the first seven months of 2022 over the same period in 2021, the prices of total exports of goods and imports of goods increased by 9.1% and 9.4% respectively.
 
     Price changes in external merchandise trade are reflected by changes in unit value indices of external merchandise trade, which are compiled based on average unit values or, for certain commodities, specific price data.
 
     The terms of trade index is derived from the ratio of price index of total exports of goods to that of imports of goods. Compared with the same periods in 2021, the index increased by 0.7% in July 2022, whereas it decreased by 0.3% in the first seven months of 2022.
 
     Changes in the unit value and volume of total exports of goods by main destination are shown in Table 1.
 
     Comparing July 2022 with July 2021, declines were recorded for the total export volume to the USA (-21.7%), the mainland of China (the Mainland) (-19.8%) and Taiwan (-11.8%).  On the other hand, the total export volume to Vietnam (12.6%) and India (32.9%) increased.
 
     Over the same period of comparison, the total export prices to all main destinations increased:
the Mainland (11.3%), the USA (9.5%), Taiwan (7.3%), Vietnam (6.5%) and India (3.4%).
 
     Changes in the unit value and volume of imports of goods by main supplier are shown in Table 2.
 
     Comparing July 2022 with July 2021, declines were recorded for the import volume from Korea (-28.2%), the Mainland (-27.0%), Japan (-10.1%), Singapore (-8.6%) and Taiwan (-2.8%).
 
     Over the same period of comparison, the import prices from all main suppliers increased: the Mainland (12.9%), Korea (10.5%), Taiwan (5.9%), Singapore (3.5%) and Japan (0.6%).
 
Further information
 
     Details of the above statistics are published in the July 2022 issue of "Hong Kong Merchandise Trade Index Numbers". Users can download the publication at the website of the C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/en/EIndexbySubject.html?pcode=B1020006&scode=230).
 
     Enquiries on merchandise trade indices may be directed to the Trade Analysis Section (1) of the C&SD (Tel: 2582 4918).

Ends/Monday, September 19, 2022
Issued at HKT 16:30

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