FRIDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1982
4.
PROVISIONAL TRADE FIGURES FOR SEPTEMBER 1982
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THE CENSUS AND STATISTICS DEPARTMENT TODAY PUBLISHED THE PROVISIONAL TRADE FIGURES FOR HONG KONG'S VISIBLE TRADE IN SEPTEMBER 1982,
THE VALUE OF TOTAL EXPORTS FOR SEPTEMBER WAS $10 940 MILLION, MADE UP OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS OF $7 218 MILLION AND RE-EXPORTS OF $3 722 MILLION.
WITH IMPORTS AT $11 826 MILLION, THE VISIBLE TRADE DEFICIT FOR SEPTEMBER WAS $886 MILLION.
COMPARING THE THIRD QUARTER OF THIS YEAR WITH THE THIRD QUARTER OF LAST YEAR, THE VALUE OF TOTAL EXPORTS INCREASED BY $360 MILLION OR ONE PER CENT, COMPRISING INCREASES OF $133 MILLION OR ONE PER CENT FOR DOMESTIC EXPORTS AND $227 MILLION OR TWO PER CENT FOR RE-EXPORTS.
THE VALUE OF IMPORTS ALSO INCREASED BY $489 MILLION OR ONE PER CENT.
GIVEN THAT THE GROWTH RATE OF THE VALUE OF TOTAL EXPORTS WAS COMPARABLE TO THAT OF IMPORTS ALTHOUGH BOTH HAVE BEEN SLOWING DOWN SIGNIFICANTLY, THE VISIBLE TRADE GAP AT SIX PER CENT IN THE THIRD QUARTER OF THIS YEAR WAS ROUGHLY THE SAME AS IN THE THIRD QUARTER OF 1981.
COMMENTING ON THE TRADE FIGURES, A GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN SAID THAT INFLUENCED BY THE WORLD RECESSION AND THE DELAY IN THE RECOVERY OF THE ECONOMIES OF HONG KONG'S MAIN EXPORT MARKETS, HONG KONG'S EXPORT PERFORMANCE REMAINED WEAK. THE GROWTH RATE OF ONE PER CENT IN VALUE TERMS RECORDED FOR DOMESTIC EXPORTS IN THE THIRD QUARTER WAS LOWER THAN THE GROWTH RATE OF SIX PER CENT IN THE FIRST HALF OF THIS YEAR, THERE WAS, AT THE SAME TIME, NO SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN THE IMPORT BILL.
PUTTING THE SEPTEMBER TRADE FIGURES INTO CONTEXT, THE GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN SAID, THE VALUES OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS AND RE-EXPORTS IN THE FIRST NINE MONTHS OF 1982 WERE FOUR PER CENT AND SEVEN PER CENT RESPECTIVELY HIGHER THAN IN THE CORRESPONDING PERIOD OF 1981.
THE GROWTH RATE OF THE VALUE OF TOTAL EXPORTS, AT FIVE PER CENT, WAS SLIGHTLY FASTER THAN THAT OF IMPORTS, AT FOUR PER CENT. IN CONSEQUENCE, THE VISIBLE TRADE GAP NARROWED SLIGHTLY TO 11 PER CENT COMPARED WITH 12 PER CENT IN THE SAME PERIOD OF 1981.
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