XN000022-1995-02-23 — Page 33

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Analysis of Hong Kong's re-export trade statistics in 1994

Re-exports accounted for 81% of the value of total exports and 39% of the total value of external trade of Hong Kong in 1994. In 1993, the corresponding shares were 79% and 39% respectively.

These figures, affirming the growing importance of re-export trade, are amongst the detailed re-export statistics released by the Census and Statistics Department today (Thursday)..

China remained the largest partner for Hong Kong's re-export trade. Of the total $947.9 billion of re-exports going through Hong Kong in 1994, 89% or $841.6 billion involved China in either direction. As a source, re-exports originating in China accounted for 58% of Hong Kong's re-export value in 1994. As a destination, China's share was 34%.

It is noted that much of the re-export trade involving China is related to outward processing, as raw materials and semi-manufactured goods are exported to China for processing, with the final products subsequently returned to Hong Kong, and re-exported to the major overseas markets.

Other main origins of Hong Kong's re-exports in 1994 included Japan (accounting for 13%), Taiwan (7.6%), the United States (4.6%) and South Korea (2.9%).

The main destinations in 1994, besides China, included the United States (accounting for 22%), Japan (5.8%), Germany (4.4%) and the United Kingdom (2.9%).

Table 1 shows the changes in the value of re-exports from the 10 main origins in 1994 compared with 1993.

Comparing 1994 with 1993, increases were recorded in the value of re-exports from all main origins: Malaysia (+42%), Singapore (+27%), South Korea (+27%), France (+18%), the United States (+17%), China (+15%), Taiwan (+11%), Japan (+11%), the United Kingdom (+6.6%) and Germany (+2.3%).

Of the value of re-exports originating in China in 1994, 36% went to the United States, 8.3% to Japan and 7.2% to Germany.

For goods of Japan origin, 74% of the value of re-exports through Hong Kong in 1994 went to China, 4.2% to the United States and 2.8% to South Korea. For re- exports originating in Taiwan, an overwhelming proportion (92% of the value in 1994) went to China,