XN000022-1993-10-28 — Page 13

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1993

THIS COMPARED WITH A TRADE DEFICIT OF $24,333 MILLION, EQUIVALENT TO 3.5% OF THE VALUE OF IMPORTS, RECORDED A YEAR EARLIER.

COMMENTING ON THE LATEST TRADE FIGURES, A GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN SAID THE RELATIVELY LESS RAPID GROWTH IN RE-EXPORTS IN SEPTEMBER THAN IN JULY AND AUGUST OCCURRED IN RESPECT OF RE-EXPORTS TO BOTH THE MAJOR OVERSEAS MARKETS AND THE CHINA MARKET.

WAS

BUT THE OVERALL GROWTH RATE OF RE-EXPORTS IN SEPTEMBER, AT 17%, STILL ROBUST.

BUT

FOR A SIMILAR MODULATION FACTOR IN RESPECT OF THE MARKETS, ALSO IN THE LIGHT OF THE ON-GOING STRUCTURAL SHIFT IN THE COMPOSITION OF HONG KONG'S EXPORTS TOWARDS RE-EXPORTS, THE PERFORMANCE OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS WAS SLUGGISH.

THE SHARE OF RE-EXPORTS IN THE VALUE OF TOTAL EXPORTS THUS ROSE FURTHER, FROM 74% IN THE FIRST NINE MONTHS OF 1992 TO 79% IN THE FIRST NINE MONTHS OF 1993. OVER THE SAME PERIOD, THE VALUE OF RETAINED IMPORTS GREW BY 5.9%.

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

IN

MID

/PRIVISIONAL FIGURES