THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 1986
JANUARY EXTERNAL TRADE STATISTICS RELEASED
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TOTAL MERCHANDISE TRADE IN JANUARY 1986, VALUED AT $37 899 MILLION, WAS 3 PER CENT LOWER THAN IN THE SAME MONTH LAST YEAR, ACCORDING TO TRADE VALUE STATISTICS RELEASED TODAY (THURSDAY) BY THE CENSUS AND STATISTICS DEPARTMENT.
ON THE SAME BASIS OF COMPARISON, DOMESTIC EXPORTS DECREASED BY 6 PER CENT TO $10 530 MILLION WHILE RE-EXPORTS DECREASED BY 4 PER CENT TO $8 563 MILLION, SO THAT FOR TOTAL EXPORTS, THE VALUE DECREASED BY 5 PER CENT. IMPORTS DECREASED BY 2 PER CENT TO $18 806 MILLION.
COMMENTING ON THESE COMPARATIVE FIGURES, A GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN SAID THAT TRADE STATISTICS FOR THE BEGINNING MONTH OF A YEAR ARE USUALLY DISTORTED BY SEASONAL FACTORS. THE DECLINE IN THE VALUE OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS IN JANUARY 1986 WAS INFLUENCED BY THE RUSH SHIPMENTS BY MANUFACTURERS TOWARDS THE END OF 1985. TO FULFIL HIGHER QUOTA UTILISATION RATES FOR RESTRAINED TEXTILE ITEMS AND TO SECURE PAYMENTS BEFORE THE CHINESE NEW YEAR WHICH FELL IN EARLY FEBRUARY THIS YEAR. AS REGARDS IMPORTS, THE DECLINE WAS ATTRIBUTED IN PART TO REDUCED IMPORTS OF FUELS.
ALL THE TRADE STATISTICS PRESENTED HEREIN ARE MEASURED AT CURRENT PRICES AND NO ACCOUNT HAS BEEN TAKEN OF THE CHANGES IN PRICES BETWEEN THE PERIODS OF COMPARISON. A SEPARATE ANALYSIS ON THE PRICE AND VOLUME MOVEMENTS OF EXTERNAL TRADE FOR JANUARY 1986 WILL BE RELEASED IN EARLY APRIL.
THE CHANGES IN DOMESTIC EXPORTS TO THE TEN MAJOR MARKETS ARE SHOWN IN TABLE 1.
COMPARING JANUARY 1986 WITH JANUARY 1985, THE VALUE OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS TO THE UNITED STATES DECREASED BY 5 PER CENT. ANALYSED BY COMMODITY, DECREASES WERE RECORDED IN CLOTHING (BY #161 MILLION OR 7 PER CENT); ELECTRICAL MACHINERY, APPARATUS AND APPLIANCES, AND ELECTRICAL PARTS THEREOF (BY $126 MILLION OR 24 PER CENT) AS WELL AS TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND SOUND RECORDING AND REPRODUCING APPARATUS AND EQUIPMENT (BY $31 MILLION OR 10 PER CENT).
ON THE OTHER HAND, INCREASES WERE RECORDED IN PHOTOGRAPHIC APPARATUS, EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES, OPTICAL GOODS, WATCHES AND CLOCKS (BY $34 MILLION OR 13 PER CENT) AS WELL AS MISCELLANEOUS MANUFACTURED ARTICLES (MAINLY MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND PARTS AND ACCESSORIES THEREOF; JEWELLERY, GOLDSMITHS AND SILVERSMITHS' WARES, AND OTHER ARTICLES OF PRECIOUS OR SEMI-PRECIOUS MATERIALS) (EY #34 MILLION OR 5 PER CENT).
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