XN000022-1988-06-10 — Page 19

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FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 1988

CENT

TO

THUS, THE VALUE OF TOTAL EXPORTS INCREASED BY 29 PER $133,729 MILLION. IMPORTS INCREASED BY 28 PER CENT ΤΟ $138,947 MILLION.

COMPARING JANUARY TO APRIL 1988 WITH THE SAME PERIOD IN 1987, DOMESTIC EXPORTS TO ALL MAJOR MARKETS INCREASED IN VALUE TERMS. THE MARKETS WITH THE LARGEST GROWTH IN DOMESTIC EXPORTS INCLUDED SINGAPORE (+42 PER CENT), FRANCE (+25 PER CENT), CHINA (+24 PER CENT), THE UNITED KINGDOM (+23 PER CENT) AND JAPAN (+17 PER CENT). HOWEVER, DOMESTIC EXPORTS TO HONG KONG'S LARGEST MARKET, THE U.S.A., GREW BY 2 PER CENT.

MAJOR

IMPORTS IN JANUARY TO APRIL 1988 FROM ALL

SUPPLIERS INCREASED IN VALUE TERMS WHEN COMPARED WITH THE SAME PERIOD IN 1987. SIGNIFICANT INCREASES WERE RECORDED IN IMPORTS FROM SWITZERLAND (+47 PER CENT), THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA (+42 PER CENT), CHINA (+28 PER CENT), THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY (+27 PER CENT) AND THE U.S.A. (+26 PER CENT),

DURING THE SAME PERIOD OF COMPARISON, RE-EXPORTS TO JAPAN, THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY, THE UNITED KINGDOM, TAIWAN AND AUSTRALIA INCREASED SUBSTANTIALLY IN VALUE TERMS BY 86 PER CENT, 75 PER CENT, 53 PER CENT, 49 PER CENT AND 46 PER CENT RESPECTIVELY.

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 APRIL 1988 WILL BE RELEASED IN EARLY JULY.

THE CHANGES IN DOMESTIC EXPORTS TO HONG KONG'S 10 MAJOR MARKETS ARE SHOWN IN TABLE 1.

COMPARING JANUARY TO APRIL 1988 WITH THE SAME PERIOD IN 1987, INCREASES IN DOMESTIC EXPORTS IN VALUE TERMS WERE RECORDED IN ALL MAJOR COMMODITY DIVISIONS.

THE MORE NOTABLE ONES INCLUDED PHOTOGRAPHIC APPARATUS, EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES AND OPTICAL, GOODS, WATCHES AND CLOCKS (BY $1,268 MILLION OR 31 PER CENT); OFFICE MACHINES AND AUTOMATIC DATA PROCESSING EQUIPMENT (BY $1,211 MILLION OR 47 PER CENT); ELECTRICAL MACHINERY, APPARATUS AND APPLIANCES AND ELECTRICAL PARTS THEREOF (BY $911 MILLION OR 22 PER CENT); AND CLOTHING (BY $861 MILLION OR 5 PER CENT).

ON THE OTHER HAND, DECREASES WERE RECORDED IN ELECTRIC CURRENT (BY $58 MILLION OR 30 PER CENT); AND TRAVEL GOODS, HANDBAGS AND SIMILAR CONTAINERS (BY $20 MILLION OR 4 PER CENT).

TABLE 2 ILLUSTRATES THE CHANGES IN DOMESTIC EXPORTS BY MAJOR COMMODITY DIVISION.

THE CHANGES