Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) recorded a contraction in June cargo volume and saw flat growth in the first half of the year.
In a release, HKIA said that in June, cargo throughput decreased by 3.5% to 349,000 tonnes, while in the first half of the year, freight traffic increased slightly by 0.6% to 2.1 million tonnes.
It attributed the decline in cargo throughput last month mainly to a 5% year-over-year drop in transshipments and a 4% decrease in exports.
Imports, on the other hand, registered 1% growth in June compared to the same month last year. Traffic to and from Southeast Asia, China, and Europe disappointed, as cargo traffic was suppressed by the Eurozone’s weak economy and a slowdown in Asia-Pacific import and export activity.
On a rolling 12-month basis, the air hub handled 4.4 million tonnes of cargo, up 3.2% from the previous year.
HK exports weaken
Meanwhile, the volume of Hong Kong’s total goods exports dropped 6.3% year-over-year in May, the Census & Statistics Department announced recently.
The volume of goods re-exports dropped 6.1% compared to the same period last year, while that of domestic exports also fell significantly by 18.4%.
Concurrently, the volume of goods imports dropped 5%. The prices of goods exports increased 1.9% over the same period year-over-year, while the prices of goods imports rose 1.1%.
The prices of goods re-exports increased 2% year-over-year, while that of domestic exports dropped 2.6%.
Photo: Ken’ichi
