 |
HK External Trade Posts Marked Increase in April
Hong Kong's total exports and imports showed further marked increases in April 2000, external trade figures released Thursday by the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department show.
The value of total exports, comprising re-exports and domestic exports, increased notably by 15.5 percent in April 2000 over a year earlier to 123.1 billion HK dollars (15.78 billion U.S. dollars).
Within the total, the value of re-exports rose by 16.7 percent to 109.4 billion HK dollars (14.02 billion U.S. dollars), and that of domestic exports by 7.4 percent to 13.7 billion HK dollars (1. 75 billion U.S. dollars).
Concurrently, the value of imports also increased strongly, by 18.0 percent in April 2000 over a year ago to 133.6 billion HK dollars (17.13 billion U.S. dollars).
A visible trade deficit of 10.5 billion HK dollars (1.35 billion U.S. dollars), equivalent to 7.9 percent of the value of imports, was recorded in April 2000, larger than the deficit of 6. 7 billion HK dollars (858.97 million U.S. dollars) recorded in April 1999.
For the first four months of 2000 as a whole, the value of total exports increased strongly by 18.7 percent over a year earlier, and the value of imports rose by 21.5 percent.
A government Secretariat spokesman noted that the value of total exports recorded double-digit growth for the sixth month in a row in April 2000, bolstered by strong import demand in all the major markets.
The spokesman also pointed out that the intake of imports for local use remained strong in April, causing the visible trade deficit to be higher than a year earlier.
This nevertheless was associated with the further pick-up in domestic demand and the process of inventory replenishment, along with a more entrenched economic recovery, the spokesman added.
In This Section
|
