Compared to February of 2015, exports fell 10.4 percent to HKD 204.5 billion. Sales to China decreased 6.4 percent and those to the United States fell 23.2 percent. Exports also went down to the United Kingdom (-26.6 percent), Japan (-17.1 percent), Germany (-14.9 percent), Taiwan (-17.4 percent), Thailand (-12.8 percent) and Singapore (-2.1 percent). In contrast, higher exports were recorded to India (+27 percent) and the United Arab Emirates (+49.8 percent).
Largest decreases were recorded in shipments of electrical machinery (-2.5 percent), telecommunications and sound recording and reproducing apparatus and equipment (-13.6 percent), office machines (-15.6 percent) and miscellaneous manufactured articles (mainly jewellery, goldsmiths' and silversmiths' wares) (-23.7 percent). In contrast, sales of non-metallic mineral manufactures rose by 22 percent.
Imports declined by 10.1 percent to HKD 237.6 billion, mainly driven by lower purchases from China (-18.2 percent), Japan (-15.7 percent), Malaysia (-6.1 percent), Thailand (-9.1 percent) and Switzerland (-21.3 percent). Meanwhile, purchases from Taiwan (+2.6 percent), Singapore (+0.6 percent) and United States (+1.8 percent) increased.
Among products, decreases were mostly recorded for electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances, and electrical parts (-0.7 percent), telecommunications and sound recording and reproducing apparatus and equipment (-20.4 percent), office machines (-13 percent) and non-metallic mineral manufactures (-13.1 percent). In contrast, imports of miscellaneous manufactured articles (mainly jewelry, goldsmiths' and silversmiths' wares) went up by 11.7 percent.
In January of 2016, Hong Kong reported a HKD 17.5 billion deficit.