Hong Kong November trade increased 10.5pc after 2.8pc October fall



 HONG KONG's November import and export trade value, including re-exports, was up 10.5 per cent to HK$307.8 billion (US$39.7 billion) year on year after a 2.8 per cent fall in October, according to the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department.

"Merchandise exports rebounded notably in value terms in November, after a modest fall in October. The performance of merchandise exports has been fluctuating, a continued manifestation of an unsteady external trading environment," said a government spokesman. 

The value of re-exports increased 10.7 per cent to HK$302.6 billion in November, whereas the value of domestic exports fell 0.6 per cent to HK$5.1 billion, said the department's latest report, "Hong Kong External Merchandise Trade". 

November import value increased nine per cent year on year to HK$351.8 billion, after and October increase of 3.3 per cent. 

For the first 11 months of 2012, exports value rose 1.9 per cent. Within that, re-export value was up 2.2 per cent, while domestic export value fell 11.7 per cent. Import value increased 3.2 per cent over the same period. 

November exports to Asia grew 14.6 per cent year on year, up 48.7 per cent to Thailand, 32.4 per cent to the Philippines, 19 per cent to mainland China, 13.3 per cent to Japan and 10.6 per cent to Singapore. But decreases were recorded in the values to India (-17.6 per cent), Taiwan (-16.5 per cent) and Vietnam (-9.6 per cent).

Increases were also noted to the United Kingdom (+1.2 per cent) and the US (+0.3 per cent), though a decreases was posted in November export value to Germany (-7.8 per cent).

Thai import value enjoyed an increase (+56.2 per cent) as from mainland China (+20.9 per cent) and from India (+6.2 per cent) while imports from the US fell (-22.9 per cent), Singapore (-7.2 per cent) and Japan (-5.3 per cent).

For the first 11 months, year-on-year export value increases were registered to Vietnam (+11 per cent), Japan (+6.2 per cent), mainland China (+5.3 per cent) and to the US (+1.5 per cent). But year-on-year decreases were posted in export value to India (-18.2 per cent), Germany (-14.4 per cent), Taiwan (-8.6 per cent) and the UK (-7.8 per cent).

Year-on-year increases were registered in import value from mainland China (+7.4 per cent), Taiwan (+1.5 per cent) and Korea (+1.2 per cent) while year-on-year decreases were registered in import value from Thailand (-8.2 per cent), Malaysia (-5.2 per cent) and India (-4.8 per cent).

"Looking ahead, the fragile fundamentals of the advanced economies will continue to weigh on demand in the near term. Although the mainland's recent faster growth momentum should render some support to regional trade down the road, our export outlook remains challenging. We need to stay vigilant," the government spokesman said.

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