The volume of Hong Kong’s total goods exports (domestic exports and re-exports combined) slid 4.2% year-on-year in January and February, the Census & Statistics Department announced.
Of the total, the volume of goods re-exports decreased 4.1% compared to the same period last year, while that of domestic exports fell 14.4%.
On overall export prices, these decreased 2.5%, with re-export prices dropping 2.5% and domestic export prices falling 3.1% year-on-year.
The department said it is useful to analyze the trade figures for January and February together each year as the trade flows in these two months tend to show considerable volatility due to differences in timing of the Lunar New Year holidays.
Comparing the three-month period ending February 2016 with the preceding three months, volume of total exports decreased by 3.5%. Of the total, re-exports decreased by 3.6%, whereas domestic exports increased by 0.4%.
Comparing February 2016 with February 2015, prices of total goods exports decreased by 2.4%. Prices of re-exports of goods declined by 2.4%, while those of domestic exports dipped by 3.2%.
In February 2016, double-digit declines in year-on-year shipments to top destinations were recorded, with volumes to the U.S. down 20.5%, Germany down 15.9%, Japan 15.8%, and China 3.6%.
On the other hand, export volumes to India increased by a significant 29.4%.
In the same period of comparison, total export prices to India, China, U.S., and Japan decreased by 3.3%, 3.0%, 2.5%, and 0.8%, respectively. But prices of exports to Germany increased by 0.7%.
HK port traffic slows down
In related news, traffic at the port of Hong Kong continues to moderate, registering an 8% drop in March throughput to 1.52 million TEUs. This however is a better performance than the 16% plunge in February, the weakest month so far in the year.
For the first quarter, overall throughput fell 10.4% to 4.41 million TEUs.
Volumes at the main terminal at Kwai Tsing fell 9% in March to 1.17 million TEUs, while at the non-Kwai Tsing terminals, throughput was down 4.3% to 350,000 TEUs.
Photo: Photnart
