XN000022-1989-03-10 — Page 18

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FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 1989

CAUTION SHOULD BE EXERCISED IN INTERPRETING THE TRADE FIGURES FOR ANY INDIVIDUAL MONTH IN ISOLATION, IN VIEW OF THE FLUCTUATIONS THAT MAY OCCUR FROM MONTH TO MONTH. IN PARTICULAR, THE TRADE FIGURES IN THE FIRST TWO MONTHS OF THE YEAR ARE LIKELY TO BE AFFECTED BY THE TIMING OF THE LUNAR NEW YEAR HOLIDAYS.

EXTENDING THE PERIOD OF COMPARISON TO THE 12 MONTHS ENDING JANUARY 1989 WITH THE 12 MONTHS ENDING JANUARY 1988, DOMESTIC EXPORTS INCREASED BY 11 PER CENT TO $218,449 MILLION, WHILE RE-EXPORTS AT $283,201 MILLION WERE UP BY 50 PER CENT.

ING DOMESTIC EXPORTS AND RE-EXPORTS TOGETHER, TOTAL EXPORTS БОЗЕ BY 30 PER CENT. IMPORTS INCREASED BY 31 PER CENT TO $508,782 MILLION. TOTAL MERCHANDISE TRADE, AS A WHOLE, INCREASED BY 30 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 JANUARY 1989 WILL BE RELEASED IN EARLY APRIL.

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

COMPARING JANUARY 1989 WITH JANUARY 1988, INCREASES IN 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 $187 MILLION OR 20 PER CENT); ELECTRICAL MACHINERY, APPARATUS AND APPLIANCES AND ELECTRICAL PARTS THEREOF (BY $150 MILLION OR 12 PER CENT); TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND SOUND RECORDING AND REPRODUCING APPARATUS AND EQUIPMENT (BY $100 MILLION OR 8 PER CENT); AND MANUFACTURES OF METAL (BY $96 MILLION OR 25 PER CENT).

DOMESTIC EXPORTS OF CLOTHING DECREASED BY $77 MILLION OR 1 PER CENT IN VALUE TERMS. A DECREASE WAS ALSO RECORDED IN MISCELLANEOUS MANUFACTURED ARTICLES (BY $79 MILLION OR 4 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 SUMMARISED IN TABLE 3.

ARE

COMPARING JANUARY 1989 WITH JANUARY 1988, MORE NOTABLE INCREASES IN IMPORTS IN VALUE TERMS WERE REGISTERED FOR ELECTRICAL MACHINERY, APPARATUS AND APPLIANCES AND ELECTRICAL PARTS THEREOF (BY $1,121 MILLION OR 36 PER CENT); TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND SOUND RECORDING AND REPRODUCING APPARATUS AND EQUIPMENT (BY $1,100 MILLION OR 59 PER CENT); AND CLOTHING (BY #743 MILLION OR 30 PER CENT).

/IMPORTS OF