Following is a question by the Hon Sunny Tan and a written reply by the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Algernon Yau, in the Legislative Council today (January 28):
 
Question:
 
     In April last year, the Hong Kong Export Credit Insurance Corporation introduced three enhanced measures (which included (i) extending the free pre-shipment cover for holders of the Small Business Policy (SBP) which is tailor-made for small and medium enterprises until June 30, 2026; (ii) offering a 50 per cent discount on pre-shipment risks to cover premiums for non-SBP holders; and (iii) reducing the premium rates for new markets) to support the export trade in Hong Kong and help enterprises in expediting expansion into new markets. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) whether it has assessed the effectiveness of the above three enhanced measures since their implementation (including the number of Hong Kong enterprises that have benefited); given that the validity period of support measure mentioned in (i) above expires on June 30 this year, whether the authorities will appropriately optimise and extend the implementation period of these support measures in light of the current global economic uncertainty; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;

(2) how the authorities will continue to enhance and optimise export credit insurance services targeting the Belt and Road markets, such as those in the Chinese Mainland, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Middle East, so as to assist enterprises in exploring more business opportunities; and

(3) given the rapid development of cross-border e-commerce, how the authorities will enhance the relevant credit insurance services and financing support to help enterprises expand their e-commerce business?

Reply:
 
President,

     To support Hong Kong exporters (especially small and medium enterprises) in coping with the challenges posed by unstable global trade environment, the Hong Kong Export Credit Insurance Corporation (ECIC) launched three support measures in April 2025, including (a) extension of the free pre-shipment cover for holders of the Small Business Policy (SBP); (b) 50 per cent discount on pre-shipment risks cover premiums for each non-SBP holder; and (c) reduction of premium rates for emerging markets in line with those for traditional major markets in order to help exporters explore new markets. The above measures are valid until June 30, 2026. In consultation with the ECIC, our reply to various parts of the Hon Sunny Tan's question is as follows:

(1) All the ECIC's SBP holders are eligible for the free pre-shipment cover, involving around 1 200 policyholders. As of December 31, 2025, over 150 SBP holders have benefited from this measure, involving a total insured business of around $650 million. Regarding the premium discount on pre-shipment risks cover for non-SBP holders, around 50 policyholders have benefited from this measure, with a total insured business exceeding $1.1 billion. As for the reduction in premium rates for emerging markets, around 370 policyholders have benefited from the measure, involving a total insured business of around $1.25 billion. The ECIC will continue to closely monitor the changes in the global economic environment and review the effectiveness of these three measures to provide timely support to Hong Kong exporters.

(2) The ECIC currently covers 137 regions under the Belt and Road (B&R) Initiative. To support Hong Kong exporters in exploring B&R markets, the ECIC has launched a series of measures, including (a) following the provision of 20 free credit assessment services for buyers from the Chinese Mainland, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Middle East in 2024, expanding the service coverage to all ECIC's insured markets in 2025 including the B&R regions; (b) reducing the premium rates for emerging markets in line with those for traditional major markets, e.g. for transactions with a 60-day credit period, premium could be reduced by one-third in general, lowering the credit insurance cost of policyholders and supporting them to tap into emerging markets in the B&R regions; and (c) actively collaborating with export credit agencies (ECAs) in the B&R regions, such as signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the Export-Import Bank of Thailand to facilitate information exchange which would assist the ECIC in assessing buyer's creditworthiness, thereby supporting Hong Kong exporters in expanding their export business in the relevant region. The ECIC is also actively seeking collaboration opportunities with the ECAs in the Middle East. The ECIC's total insured business in the Chinese Mainland, ASEAN and the Middle East under the B&R Initiative has exhibited an upward trend. As of December 31, 2025, the Chinese Mainland was the ECIC's largest insured market which achieved an approximately 15 per cent year-on-year increase in total insured business for 2025, while the total insured business in ASEAN, the Middle East and other B&R regions recorded an approximately 83 per cent year-on-year increase. The ECIC will continue to fully support Hong Kong exporters in developing export markets in the B&R regions.

(3) In response to the financing need of Hong Kong exporters in developing cross-border e-commerce business, the ECIC has collaborated with financial institutions since 2024 to introduce a cross-border e-commerce trade financing insurance initiative. Under the initiative, the ECIC will consider merchants' operating performance data on specific e-commerce platform for assessing the grant of export credit insurance, in a bid to facilitate merchants in obtaining financing from financial institutions and support their development of e-commerce trade. To support Hong Kong exporters in seizing the business opportunities brought by cross-border e-commerce, the 2025 Policy Address announced that the ECIC would further collaborate with financial institutions to expand the financing support to e-commerce merchants on different e-commerce platforms. Since the announcement of the 2025 Policy Address, in addition to the e-commerce platforms already covered (i.e. Amazon and eBay), the ECIC and its collaborated financial institutions have extended the cover to Pinduoduo, Douyin, JD.com, Tao Fenxiao, Tmall and Dewu. The ECIC and relevant financial institutions are exploring the feasibility of extending the cover to the e-commerce platforms located in other regions such as Southeast Asia to further support local e-commerce merchants to expand into other markets.

Ends/Wednesday, January 28, 2026
Issued at HKT 15:42

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