HONG KONG, Oct. 24 -- The value of Hong Kong's total exports dropped by 7.3 percent year-on-year to 347.7 billion HK dollars (about 44.35 billion U.S. dollars) in September, the Census and Statistics Department of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government said Thursday.

The value of imports of goods in September fell by 10.3 percent over a year earlier to 379.3 billion HK dollars

A trade deficit of 31.6 billion HK dollars, or 8.3 percent of the value of imports, was recorded in September.

Comparing the third quarter of 2019 with the preceding quarter on a seasonally adjusted basis, the value of total exports of goods decreased by 0.4 percent. Meanwhile, the value of imports of goods decreased by 2.1 percent. (1 U.S. dollar = 7.84 HK dollars)