TUESDAY, AUGUST 31, 1982
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PROVISIONAL TRADE FIGURES FOR JULY 1982
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THE VALUE OF TOTAL EXPORTS FOR JULY WAS $11 258 MILLION, MADE UP OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS OF $7 680 MILLION AND RE-EXPORTS OF $3 578 MILLION, ACCORDING TO THE PROVISIONAL TRADE FIGURES FOR HONG KONG'S VISIBLE TRADE IN JULY 1982, PUBLISHED TODAY (TUESDAY) BY THE CENSUS AND STATISTICS DEPARTMENT.
WITH IMPORTS AT $12 376 MILLION, THE VISIBLE TRADE DEFICIT
FOR JULY WAS $1 118 MILLION,
COMPARED WITH JULY 1981, THE VALUE OF TOTAL EXPORTS INCREASED BY $515 MILLION OR FIVE PER CENT, COMPRISING INCREASES OF
$318 MILLION OR FOUR PER CENT FOR DOMESTIC EXPORTS AND $197 MILLION OR SIX PER CENT FOR RE-EXPORTS.
THE VALUE OF IMPORTS, ON THE OTHER HAND, SHOWED ONLY A MARGINAL INCREASE OF $62 MILLION OR 0.5 PER CENT. AS A CONSEQUENCE, THE VISIBLE TRADE +GAP+ (THAT IS THE PROPORTION OF THE VALUE OF IMPORTS NOT COVERED BY THE VALUE OF TOTAL EXPORTS) NARROWED TO NINE PER CENT IN JULY THIS YEAR FROM 13 PER CENT IN JULY 1981.
COMMENTING ON THE FIGURES, A GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN POINTED OUT THAT EXPORT PERFORMANCE IN JULY REMAINED WEAK AS THE ECONOMIES OF HONG KONG'S MAJOR MARKETS WERE STILL IN RECESSION. REFLECTING THIS, THE GROWTH RATE IN THE VALUE OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS IN JULY, AT FOUR PER CENT, WAS LOWER THAN THE SIX PER CENT RECORDED FOR THE FIRST HALF OF THIS YEAR.
HE ADDED THAT AS A RESULT OF WEAK DEMAND FOR BOTH CONSUMER GOODS AND MANUFACTURING INPUTS, THERE WAS NO SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN THE TOTAL IMPORT BILL IN JULY. THIS CONTRIBUTED TO A NARROWING OF THE VISIBLE TRADE +GAP+.
ALTHOUGH THERE ARE AS YET NO CONVINCING SIGNS OF A RECOVERY, IT SEEMS THAT THE TROUGH IN THE PRESENT WORLD RECESSION MAY HAVE BEEN REACHED. AS AND WHEN CONSUMER DEMAND IN THE ECONOMIES OF HONG KONG'S MAJOR MARKETS BEGINS TO IMPROVE, THE DOMESTIC EXPORT SECTOR APPEARS WELL POISED TO BENEFIT FROM IT, SINCE THE PRICES OF HONG KONG'S MANUFACTURED PRODUCTS HAVE REMAINED RELATIVELY STABLE IN RECENT MONTHS.
HOWEVER, AS THE GROWTH RATES OF RETAINED IMPORTS OF RAW MATERIALS AND SEMI-MANUFACTURES WERE AT A RELATIVELY LOW LEVEL, ANY IMPROVEMENT IN EXPORT PERFORMANCE IN THE NEAR FUTURE IS LIKELY TO BE SLOW.
PUTTING THE MONTH'S TRADE FIGURES INTO CONTEXT THE GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN POINTED OUT THAT THE VALUE OF TOTAL EXPORTS IN THE FIRST SEVEN MONTHS OF 1982 WAS SEVEN PER CENT HIGHER THAN IN THE FIRST SEVEN MONTHS OF THE PRECEDING YEAR, WHILE THE VALUE OF IMPORTS WAS ONLY FOUR PER CENT HIGHER.
AS A RESULT, THE VISIBLE TRADE +GAP+ NARROWED TO 13 PER CENT IN THE FIRST SEVEN MONTHS OF THIS YEAR, COMPARED WITH 15 PER CENT IN THE CORRESPONDING PERIOD OF 1981.
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