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Exports.
The largest item of exports in 1946 was oils and fats ($143 million), followed by piece-goods and textiles ($128 million), foodstuffs and provisions ($116 million), Chinese medicines ($60 million), metals ($39 million) and paper-ware ($31 million). Trade returns do not differentiate between re-exports of overseas commodities and those produced in the Colony, but exports of those goods in which local factories are interested show that singlets, shirts, etc., (value $13 million), electric torches and batteries ($9 million) and rubber shoes ($31⁄2 million) were exported.
Sources and Destinations of Goods.
The countries with which Hong Kong traded during 1946 were mainly those which border the Pacific Ocean, and India. Compared with pre-war conditions there was little trade with Japan and the Netherlands East Indies and no trade with Germany. The figures are as follows:
Imports from:
Exports to:
(In millions of HK$)
China
*
327.2
China
301.4
United States
Macao
British Malaya
French Indo-China
119.5
British Malaya
161.9
+
78.5
United States
83.7
•
.
1
69.2
Siam
45.9
59.1
Macao
33:5
•
India
55.4
French Indo-China
32.2
United Kingdom
43.9
India
21.8
+
Australia
42.6
Philippines
18.0
Siam
29.3
United Kingdom. . . . .
16.5
•
Total British Empire. 248.4
Total British Empire. 214.8
Imports from the British Empire countries amounted to 26.6% of total imports during 1946 (17.2% in 1938 and 13.8% in 1939). Of these 4.7% were from the United Kingdom (6.7% in 1939), 4.6% from Australia (1.2% in 1939) and 5.9% from India (1.7% in 1939). Imports from non- Empire countries declined from 86.2% in 1939 to 73.4% in 1946.
28.1% of the goods exported from Hong Kong during 1946 were exported to British Empire countries (16.3% in 1938 and 20% in 1939). Three quarters of these goods went to British Malaya whose share in Hong Kong's total export trade was 21.1% (8.6% in 1939). The United Kingdom accounted for 2.2% and India for 2.9%. In 1938 exports sent to non-Empire countries amounted to 83.7% of the whole
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