Table 29
Change in Unit Value Indexes of Imports of Foodstuffs, 1971-1973
Value of imports in 1973* (HK$ million)
1971/70
1972/71
1973/72*
(%)
(%)
(%)
All foodstuffs
3,364
+ 2.7
+ 5.3
+23.3
Rice
424
-13.9
0.0
+92.3
Fruit
419
+ 9.2
+1.7
+14.4
Vegetables
257
+ 5.6
+ 5.3
+26.5
Meat and meat preparations
322
1.8
+ 3.7
+ 9.0
Milk, butter, cheese and eggs
243
+ 3.6
+ 7.0
+3.3
Fish and fish preparations
429
+ 2.2
+12.2
+24.5
Wheat and flour
80
+ 3.1
2.0
+36.2
* first nine months.
82. Import prices (unit values) of foodstuffs increased at a very rapid rate in the first nine months of 1973†: by 23% compared with 5% in 1972 and 3% in 1971. This large increase mainly reflected world shortages of rice and other grains, which resulted in higher prices for other foodstuffs, mainly through higher feed- stock prices and hence higher costs of livestock production. From Table 29 it will be seen that, with the exception of dairy products, the import prices of all the categories of foodstuffs shown increased, in the first nine months of 1973, at a much faster rate than in 1972 and 1971. The rate of increase was particularly rapid in the case of grain and grain products; indeed, the increase in the import price of rice was quite exceptional in the first nine months of 1973 and accounted for 32% of the overall increase in the import prices of foodstuffs over this period.
Retail Prices of Foodstuffs
83. The retail price of rice also increased very rapidly in the first nine months of 1973 (by 74%, on a seasonally adjusted basis). As Table 30 indicates, the contribution made by this increase to the overall increase in the retail prices of foodstuffs in the General Consumer Price Index was as much as 30%. The rates of increase of prices for the first nine months of 1973 shown in Tables 29 and 30 cannot be com- pared directly but, as Table 29 indicates, import prices increased at a very rapid rate over a wide range at this time, and it follows that, in the case
26
Effect of Increases in Retail Prices on Foodstuffs Section of General Consumer Price Index by Group, first nine months of 1973
Table 30
Group
C
Weight Increase Contri- in index in prices* bution
(%) (%)
Rice
6.2
74.2
29.5
Fresh marine fish
Fresh pond fish
2.2
27.0
6.9
2.4
25.8
4.9
Locally slaughtered
pork
4.5
19.2
5.9
Locally slaughtered
beef
1.8
30.1
4.3
Poultry
2.8
28.6
5.4
Fresh vegetables
4.1
32.7
16.5
Meals bought away
from home
8.2
16.5
8.6
Other groups
16.1
17.4
18.0
Foodstuffs section
48.3
28.3
100.0
seasonally adjusted.
Groups specified are those for which contribution is greater than 3%.
† In this paragraph, for convenience, rates of change for a particular period relate to the rates of change
between that period and the corresponding period of the previous year.
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