XN000022-1993-08-26 — Page 9

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 1993

IN THE FIRST SEVEN MONTHS OF 1993, THE VALUE OF RE-EXPORTS AMOUNTED TO $452,292 MILLION, WHICH WAS $82,278 MILLION OR 22% HIGHER THAN A YEAR EARLIER.

THE VALUE OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS, AT $124,551 MILLION, WAS $3,770 MILLION OR 2.9% LOWER THAN THAT IN THE SAME PERIOD LAST YEAR.

TAKING RE-EXPORTS AND DOMESTIC EXPORTS TOGETHER, THE VALUE OF TOTAL EXPORTS IN THE FIRST SEVEN MONTHS OF 1993, AT $576,843 MILLION, WAS $78,508 MILLION OR 16% HIGHER THAN A YEAR EARLIER.

THE VALUE OF IMPORTS INCREASED BY $77,804 MILLION OR 15% TO $605,417 MILLION.

A TRADE DEFICIT OF $28,573 MILLION, EQUIVALENT TO 4.7% OF THE VALUE OF IMPORTS, WAS RECORDED IN THE FIRST SEVEN MONTHS OF 1993. THIS COMPARED WITH A TRADE DEFICIT OF $29,277 MILLION, EQUIVALENT TO 5.5% OF THE VALUE OF IMPORTS, RECORDED A YEAR EARLIER.

COMMENTING ON THE LATEST TRADE FIGURES, A GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN POINTED OUT THAT THE YEAR-ON-YEAR GROWTH RATE OF RE-EXPORTS REBOUNDED TO 26% IN JULY, FROM 13% IN JUNE.

THE MAY.

THE DECLINE IN DOMESTIC EXPORTS ALSO MODERATED MARKEDLY.

THIS OVERALL EXPORT PERFORMANCE RESEMBLED MORE CLOSELY THAT IN FIRST FOUR MONTHS OF THIS YEAR, AND WAS EVEN BETTER THAN THAT IN

IT THUS APPEARED THAT THE SETBACK IN JUNE WAS ONLY TEMPORARY, MAINLY DISRUPTED BY THE HIGH BASE OF COMPARISON IN JUNE LAST YEAR.

THE SHARE OF RE-EXPORTS IN THE VALUE OF TOTAL EXPORTS ROSE FURTHER, FROM 74% IN THE FIRST SEVEN MONTHS OF 1992 TO 78% IN THE FIRST SEVEN MONTHS OF 1993, REFLECTING THE ONGOING STRUCTURAL SHIFT FROM DOMESTIC EXPORTS TO RE-EXPORTS. OVER THE SAME PERIOD, THE VALUE OF RETAINED IMPORTS GREW BY 5.4%.

A MORE DETAILED ANALYSIS OF HONG KONG'S EXTERNAL TRADE IN JULY 1993, BY COMMODITY AND COUNTRY, WILL BE RELEASED IN MID-SEPTEMBER.

/PROVISIONAL FIGURES