The following is an unedited transcript of the news release from the Government of the Hong Kong,Census and Statistics Department.

The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) released today (May 26) the external merchandise trade statistics for April 2009. In April 2009, the values of Hong Kong''s total exports and imports of goods both fell markedly, by 18.2% and 17.0% respectively.

In April 2009, the value of total exports of goods (comprising re-exports and domestic exports) decreased by 18.2% over a year earlier to $199.0 billion, after a year-on-year decrease of 21.1% in March 2009. Within this total, the value of re-exports decreased by 17.5% to $194.4 billion in April 2009, while the value of domestic exports decreased by 40.2% to $4.6 billion. Concurrently, the value of imports of goods decreased by 17.0% over a year earlier to $215.4 billion in April 2009, after a year-on-year decrease of 22.7% in March 2009. A visible trade deficit of $16.4 billion, equivalent to 7.6% of the value of imports of goods, was recorded in April 2009.

For the first four months of 2009 as a whole, the value of total exports of goods dropped by 20.9% over the same period in 2008. Within this total, the value of re-exports decreased by 20.1%, while the value of domestic exports decreased by 43.3%. Concurrently, the value of imports of goods decreased by 21.2%. A visible trade deficit of $50.6 billion, equivalent to 6.7% of the value of imports of goods, was recorded in the first four months of 2009.

Comparing the three-month period ending April 2009 with the preceding three months on a seasonally adjusted basis, the value of total exports of goods decreased by 9.9%. Within this total, the value of re-exports decreased by 10.0%, while the value of domestic exports went down by 8.4%. Meanwhile, the value of imports of goods decreased by 8.4%.

Analysis by country/territory

Comparing April 2009 with April 2008, total exports to Asia as a whole went down by 14.7%. In this region, substantial decreases were registered in the values of total exports to most major destinations, in particular Malaysia (-38.1%), Thailand (-35.6%), Singapore (-32.3%), Korea (-27.5%), India (-19.3%), Japan (-19.0%), Taiwan (-14.8%) and the mainland of China (the Mainland) (-12.5%).

Apart from destinations in Asia, sharp declines were also registered in the values of total exports to some major destinations in other regions, in particular the United Kingdom (-27.6%), the United States of America (-24.7%) and Germany (-21.4%).

Over the same period of comparison, substantial decreases were registered in the values of imports from all major suppliers, in particular India (-29.8%), Japan (-28.3%), Korea (-26.2%), Germany (-24.1%), Taiwan (-19.4%), Thailand (-18.3%) and the Mainland (-16.3%).

For the first four months of 2009 as a whole, significant year-on-year decreases were registered in the values of total exports to all major destinations, in particular Singapore (-32.6%), Korea (-29.4%), Taiwan (-23.0%), the United Kingdom (-22.8%), the United States of America (-22.0%) and the Mainland (-20.4%).

Over the same period of comparison, significant year-on-year decreases were registered in the values of imports from all major suppliers, in particular Japan (-37.4%), Korea (-30.2%), Thailand (-29.0%), Taiwan (-28.4%), India (-27.0%), Singapore (-23.3%) and the Mainland (-18.3%).

Analysis by major commodity

Comparing April 2009 with April 2008, decreases were registered in the values of total exports of all principal commodity divisions, in particular """"telecommunications and sound recording and reproducing apparatus and equipment"""" (by $7.9 billion or -19.7%), """"electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances, and electrical parts thereof"""" (by $4.5 billion or -7.6%) and """"office machines and automatic data processing machines"""" (by $3.7 billion or -14.7%).

Over the same period of comparison, decreases were registered in the values of imports of all principal commodity divisions, in particular """"telecommunications and sound recording and reproducing apparatus and equipment"""" (by $6.8 billion or -20.0%), """"electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances, and electrical parts thereof"""" (by $6.1 billion or -9.4%) and """"office machines and automatic data processing machines"""" (by $3.0 billion or -12.9%).

For the first four months of 2009 as a whole, year-on-year decreases were registered in the values of total exports of all principal commodity divisions, in particular """"electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances, and electrical parts thereof"""" (by $35.0 billion or -16.2%), """"telecommunications and sound recording and reproducing apparatus and equipment"""" (by $34.2 billion or -23.1%) and """"office machines and automatic data processing machines"""" (by $21.6 billion or -23.6%).

Over the same period of comparison, year-on-year decreases were registered in the values of imports of all principal commodity divisions, in particular """"electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances, and electrical parts thereof"""" (by $47.2 billion or -19.8%), """"telecommunications and sound recording and reproducing apparatus and equipment"""" (by $32.1 billion or -24.4%) and """"office machines and automatic data processing machines"""" (by $16.8 billion or -19.4%).

Commentary

A Government spokesman says that merchandise exports continued to decline sharply in April, mainly due to the on-going global recession and the plunge in intra-regional trade. Nevertheless, the spokesman also points out that the rate of decline narrowed somewhat in April, mainly reflecting the smaller fall in exports to the Mainland. The spokesman adds that it will take several more months of data to see if this trend of relative improvement will continue. Going forward, the external environment will remain challenging.


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