SUNDAY, MAY 30, 1982
PROVISIONAL TRADE FIGURES FOR APRIL
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THE VALUE OF TOTAL EXPORTS FOR APRIL WAS $10 130 MILLION. MADE UP OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS AT $6 541 MILLION AND RE-EXPORTS AT $3 589 MILLION, ACCORDING TO PROVISIONAL TRADE FIGURES FOR HONG KONG'S VISIBLE TRADE IN APRIL 1982 PUBLISHED BY THE CENSUS AND STATISTICS DEPARTMENT TODAY (SUNDAY).
WITH IMPORTS AT $12 302 MILLION, THE VISIBLE TRADE DEFICIT FOR APRIL WAS $2 172 MILLION.
COMPARED WITH APRIL IN 1981, THE VALUE OF TOTAL EXPORTS INCREASED BY $958 MILLION OR 10 PER CENT, COMPRISING INCREASES OF $697 MILLION OR 12 PER CENT FOR DOMESTIC EXPORTS AND $261 MILLION OR EIGHT PER CENT FOR RE-EXPORTS. THE VALUE OF IMPORTS ALSO INCREASED BY $904 MILLION OR EIGHT PER CENT.
AS THE GROWTH RATE OF THE VALUE OF TOTAL EXPORTS WAS FASTER THAN THAT OF IMPORTS, THE VISIBLE TRADE +GAP+ (THAT IS THE PROPORTION OF THE VALUE OF IMPORTS NOT COVERED BY THE VALUE OF TOTAL EXPORTS) AT 18 PER CENT IN APRIL THIS YEAR, WAS NARROWER THAN IN APRIL 1981 AT 20 PER CENT.
COMMENTING ON THE FIGURES, A GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN POINTED OUT THAT THE GROWTH RATE IN THE VALUE OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS IN APRIL, AT 12 PER CENT, WAS AN IMPROVEMENT OVER THE NINE PER CENT RECORDED IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF 1982. HOWEVER,
HOWEVER, THERE ARE NO SIGNS YET OF A PICK-UP IN THE RETAINED IMPORTS OF RAW MATERIALS AND SEMI-MANUFACTURES, GIVEN THAT THE GROWTH RATE OF IMPORTS IN VALUE TERMS REMAINED STEADY AT EIGHT PER CENT.
WHEN THE FIGURES FOR THE FIRST FOUR MONTHS OF THIS YEAR WERE COMPARED WITH THE FIGURES FOR THE CORRESPONDING PERIOD OF 1981, THE GROWTH RATE OF THE VALUE OF TOTAL EXPORTS, AT 10 PER CENT, WAS HIGHER THAN THAT OF IMPORTS, AT EIGHT PER CENT.
THE VISIBLE TRADE +GAP+ IN THE FIRST FOUR MONTHS OF THIS YEAR, AT 16 PER CENT, WAS NARROWER THAN IN THE CORRESPONDING PERIOD OF 1981, AT 18 PER CENT.
THE SPOKESMAN REMARKED THAT WHILE THE GROWTH RATE OF THE VALUE OF RE-EXPORTS AT 11 PER CENT WAS STILL SLOW IN TERMS OF PAST EXPERIENCE. THE GROWTH RATE OF THE VALUE OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS, AT 10 PER CENT, WAS NOT TOO DISCOURAGING IN VIEW OF THE GENERALLY UNFAVOURABLE ECONOMIC CONDITIONS PREVAILING IN HONG KONG'S MAIN MARKETS.