Year-on-year, exports decreased by 1.2 percent to HKD 296.3 billion in January 2017 after an increase of 10.1 percent in December 2016. Exports to Asia as a whole went down by 1.8 percent, mainly to Vietnam (-7.5 percent); China (-5.8 percent); Phillippines (-2.9 percent) and Japan (-2.2 percent).
By commodity, exports declined for: non-metallic mineral manufactures (-13.9 percent); power generating machinery and equipment (-16.1 percent) and textile yarn, fabrics, made-up articles and related products (-13.9 percent). In contrast, sales of electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances, and electrical parts thereof went up 1.6 percent.
Year-on-year, imports went down by 2.7 percent to HKD 308.6 billion in January 2017, after an increase 8.7 percent in the preceding month. Falls were recorded from Malaysia (-14.2 percent); the USA (-13.2 percent); Japan (-6.2 percent); Thailand (-5.4 percent) and China (-4.8 percent).
By commodity, imports declined for: office machines and automatic data processing machines (-12.2 percent); miscellaneous manufactured articles (-16 percent); and articles of apparel and clothing accessories (-12 percent). However, imports of electrical machinery apparatus and appliances, and electrical parts thereof rose 6.7 percent.
