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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1989
THE MARKETS WITH MORE SIGNIFICANT GROWTH IN DOMESTIC EXPORTS INCLUDED CHINA (+36 PER CENT). SINGAPORE (+35 PER CENT}, THE NETHERLANDS (+22 PER CENT), JAPAN (+21 PER CENT) AND THE UNITED KINGDOM (+20 PER CENT). DOMESTIC EXPORTS TO THE U.S.A.. HONG KONG'S LARGEST DOMESTIC EXPORT MARKET, INCREASED BY LESS THAN 1 PER CENT IN VALUE TERMS.
IMPORTS IN THE YEAR 1988 FROM ALL MAJOR SUPPLIERS INCREASED IN VALUE TERMS WHEN COMPARED WITH THE YEAR 1987. SIGNIFICANT INCREASES WERE RECORDED IN IMPORTS FROM THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA (+55 PER CENT), TAIWAN (+33 PER CENT), CHINA (+33 PER CENT), ITALY (+31 PER CENT), JAPAN (+29 PER CENT), SINGAPORE (+29 PER CENT), THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY (+28 PER CENT) AND THE U.S.A. (+28 PER CENT).
OVER THE SAME PERIOD OF COMPARISON, RE-EXPORTS TO JAPAN INCREASED SUBSTANTIALLY IN VALUE TERMS BY 78 PER CENT. NOTABLE INCREASES WERE ALSO RECORDED IN THE VALUE OF RE-EXPORTS TO CHINA (+58 PER CENT), THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY (+56 PER CENT), AUSTRALIA (+53 PER CENT), THE U.S.A. (+52 PER CENT), THE UNITED KINGDOM (+50 PER CENT AND TAIWAN (+46 PER CENT).
ALL TRADE STATISTICS PRESENTED HERE ARE MEASURED AT CURRENT PRICES AND NO ACCOUNT HAS BEEN TAKEN OF THE CHANGES IN PRICES BETWEEN THE PERIODS OF COMPARISON. A SEPARATE ANALYSIS OF THE PRICE AND VOLUME MOVEMENTS OF EXTERNAL TRADE IN DECEMBER 1988 WILL BE RELEASED IN EARLY MARCH.
THE CHANGES IN DOMESTIC EXPORTS TO HÒNG KONG'S 10 MAJOR MARKETS ARE SHOWN IN TABLE 1.
IN
COMPARING THE YEAR 1988 WITH THE YEAR 1987, INCREASES DOMESTIC EXPORTS IN VALUE TERMS WERE RECORDED IN MOST MAJOR COMMODITY DIVISIONS.
THE MORE NOTABLE ONES WERE OFFICE MACHINES AND AUTOMATIC DATA PROCESSING EQUIPMENT (BY $4,524 MILLION OR 48 PER CENT) } PHOTOGRAPHIC APPARATUS, EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES AND OPTICAL GOODS, WATCHES AND CLOCKS (BY $3,671 MILLION OR 23 PER CENT); ELECTRICAL MACHINERY, APPARATUS AND APPLIANCES AND ELECTRICAL PARTS THEREOF (BY $2,997 MILLION OR 21 PER CENT); AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND SOUND RECORDING AND REPRODUCING APPARATUS AND EQUIPMENT (BY $2,446 MILLION OR 16 PER CENT).
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DOMESTIC EXPORTS OF CLOTHING INCREASED BY $1,988 MILLION OR PER CENT IN VALUE TERMS. DECREASES WERE RECORDED IN TEXTILES (BY $454 MILLION OR 3 PER CENT); AND TRAVEL GOODS, HANDBAGS AND SIMILAR CONTAINERS (BY $190 MILLION OR 11 PER CENT),
TABLE 2 ILLUSTRATES THE CHANGES IN DOMESTIC EXPORTS BY MAJOR COMMODITY DIVISION.
THE CHANGES IN IMPORTS FROM HONG KONG'S 10 MAJOR SUPPLIERS ARE SUMMARISED IN TABLE 3.
/COMPARING THE