XN000022-1995-07-28 — Page 13

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External trade figures for June 1995

Both re-exports and imports continued to show substantial growth in June 1995, while domestic exports registered a moderate increase.

These are shown in the external trade figures for June released today (Friday) by the Census and Statistics Department.

The value of total exports (comprising re-exports and domestic exports) increased by $14.5 billion or 15% to $114.5 billion in June 1995.

Within total exports, the value of re-exports, at $93.9 billion in June 1995, was $13.6 billion or 17% higher than a year earlier.

The value of domestic exports increased by $895 million or 4.5% over a year earlier to $20.6 billion in June. Meanwhile, the value of imports increased by $18.2 billion or 16% to $128.9 billion.

As the value of total exports in June 1995 was smaller than that of total imports, a visible trade deficit of $14.4 billion, equivalent to 11% of the value of imports, was recorded. This compared with a deficit of $10.8 billion, equivalent to 9.7% of the value of imports, in June 1994.

In the first half of 1995, the value of total exports grew by 18% over the same period last year. Amongst this, the value of re-exports rose by 20%, while that of domestic exports increased by 9.4%. The value of imports showed an increase of 24%.

In the same period, a visible trade deficit of $88.1 billion, equivalent to 12% of the value of imports, was recorded. This compared with a deficit of $45.8 billion, equivalent to 8.0% of the value of imports, recorded in the first half of 1994.

Commenting on the latest trade figures, a Government spokesman pointed out that both re-exports and domestic exports remained on an uptrend.

Meanwhile, retained imports continued to grow considerably, by 16% in June over a year earlier.

This was underpinned mainly by a further increase in import requirements for manufacturing production and infrastructural construction, as well as for production capacity enhancement.