Hong Kong’s trade statistics show sharp decline of imports and exports
The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) released Hong Kong’s external merchandise trade volume and price statistics for May on 16th July. The external merchandise trade statistics in value terms for May 2019 were released earlier on.
In May 2019, the volume of Hong Kong´s total exports of goods decreased by 4.0% over May 2018. Concurrently, the volume of imported goods decreased by 6.1%.
Comparing the first five months of 2019 with the same period last year, the volume of Hong Kong´s total goods exports decreased by 4.1% while the volume of imported goods decreased by 5.7%.
Comparing the three-month period ending May 2019 with the preceding three months on a seasonally adjusted basis, the volume of total goods exported increased by 5.9% while the volume of imported goods increased by 5.8%.
Changes in the volume of external merchandise trade are derived from those changes in the value of external merchandise trade with the effect of price changes discounted.
Comparing May 2019 with May 2018, the value of total exported of goods increased by 2.0% while the total price of imported goods increased by 2.1%.
The terms of the trade index remained virtually unchanged in both May 2019 and during the first five months of 2019. Statistics for the terms of trade index is derived from the ratio between the price index of total exported goods to that of imports of goods.
Changes in the unit value and volume of total exports of goods by primary destination are shown in the table below.
| Changes in total exports of goods by main destinations | ||||
| 5/2019 vs. 5/2018 | 1-5/19 vs. 1-5/18 | |||
| % change | % change | |||
| Main destination | Unit value | Volume | Unit value | Volume |
| Mainland China | 3.1 | -6.9 | 2.7 | -7.5 |
| USA | 2.6 | -16.2 | 2.7 | -13.1 |
| Japan | 2.4 | -0.4 | 3 | -6.3 |
| India | -0.2 | 12.2 | 0.1 | -19.1 |
| Taiwan | -0.8 | 4.5 | -0.3 | -10.2 |
| All destinations | 2.0 | -4.0 | 2.1 | -4.1 |
Comparing May 2019 with May 2018, we see a double-digit decline of 16.2% recorded for the total export volume to the USA. At the same time, the total export volume to mainland China (the Mainland) and Japan decreased by 6.9% and 0.4%, respectively. On the other hand, the total export volume to Taiwan and India increased by 4.5% and 12.2%, respectively.
Comparisons over the same period saw total export prices to the Mainland, the USA and Japan increased by 3.1%, 2.6% and 2.4% respectively. Conversely, the total export prices to India and Taiwan decreased by 0.2% and 0.8% respectively.
Comparing May 2019 with May 2018, double-digit declines were recorded for the import volume from Korea (-29.7%) and Japan (-11.9%). Moreover, for the same period, the import volume from the Mainland, Singapore and Taiwan decreased by 6.4%, 5.3% and 2.9% respectively.
Comparisons over the same period show that the import prices from all main suppliers increased: the Mainland (+2.9%), Singapore (+2.6%), Japan (+1.7%), Taiwan (+1.4%) and Korea (+0.5%).
For more information, please visit C&SD or contact them at +852-2582-4918.
If you have questions or suggestions to improve our service, please leave your message here:
This article was published in the Freelancing.HK-News 61.