HONG KONG, June 26  -- The value of Hong Kong's total exports of goods in May rose 4.9 percent from a year ago to 306.0 billion HK dollars (about 39.4 billion U.S. dollars), the city's statistics department said here on Thursday.

Within this total, the value of re-exports increased 4.9 percent to 300.7 billion HK dollars in May from a year earlier, while the value of domestic exports grew 10.0 percent to 5.3 billion HK dollars.

Concurrently, the value of imports of goods added 3.7 percent over a year earlier to 348.3 billion HK dollars. A visible trade deficit of 42.4 billion HK dollars was recorded last month.

For the first five months of 2014 as a whole, the value of total exports of goods rose 1.1 percent over the same period in 2013, and the value of imports of goods increased 2.4 percent.

A visible trade deficit of 220.4 billion HK dollars was recorded in the first five months of 2014.

A government spokesman said Asia's trade flows, as well as Hong Kong's export performance, will hinge on whether the advanced economies, currently growing at a rather modest pace, will gain further traction and generate stronger import demand.