Further to the external merchandise trade statistics in value terms for January 2026 released earlier on, the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) released today (March 17) the volume and price statistics of external merchandise trade for that month.

     In January 2026, the volume of Hong Kong's total exports of goods and imports of goods increased by 29.5% and 33.9% respectively over January 2025. Due to the difference in timing of the Chinese New Year holidays, it is more appropriate to analyse the trade figures for January and February taken together in making year-on-year comparison.

     Comparing the three months ending January 2026 with the three months ending January 2025, the volume of Hong Kong's total exports of goods and imports of goods increased by 22.1% and 24.8% respectively.

     Comparing the three-month period ending January 2026 with the preceding three months on a seasonally adjusted basis, the volume of total exports of goods and imports of goods increased by 7.8% and 9.2% respectively.

     Changes in volume of external merchandise trade are derived from changes in external merchandise trade value with the effect of price changes discounted.

     Comparing January 2026 with January 2025, the prices of total exports of goods and imports of goods increased by 3.3% and 3.1% 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 period in 2025, the index increased by 0.1% in January 2026.
      
     Changes in the unit value and volume of total exports of goods by main destination are shown in Table 1.

     Comparing January 2026 with January 2025, increases were recorded for the total export volume to Taiwan (78.8%), Chinese Mainland (the Mainland) (36.3%), Vietnam (29.8%) and the USA (19.0%). On the other hand, the total export volume to India decreased by 19.0%.

     Over the same period of comparison, the total export prices to all main destinations increased: Taiwan (5.1%), India (3.7%), the Mainland (3.3%), the USA (2.9%) and Vietnam (1.0%).

     Changes in the unit value and volume of imports of goods by main supplier are shown in Table 2.

     Comparing January 2026 with January 2025, increases were recorded for the import volume from Vietnam (123.4%), Korea (59.0%), the Mainland (42.0%) and Singapore (40.0%). On the other hand, the import volume from Taiwan decreased by 0.7%.

     Over the same period of comparison, the import prices from all main suppliers increased: Korea (8.5%), Taiwan (4.1%), the Mainland (3.2%), Singapore (2.4%) and Vietnam (0.4%).

Further information

     Details of the above statistics are published in the January 2026 issue of "Hong Kong Merchandise Trade Index Numbers". Users can browse and download the report 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 of the C&SD (Tel: 3863 2599).

Ends/Tuesday, March 17, 2026
Issued at HKT 16:30

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