ENG-2010 — Page 138

96 | Commerce and Industry

$6,395.9 billion in 2010 compared with 2009. Domestic exports rose by 20.4 per cent to $69.5 billion while re-exports increased by 22.8 per cent to $2,961.5 billion compared with the previous year. Imports increased by 25 per cent to $3,364.8 billion. A summary of external merchandise trade statistics is at Appendix 6, Table 13.

Hong Kong's biggest trading partner in 2010 was the Mainland, followed by the United States (US) and Japan. In 2010, Hong Kong was the world's 10th largest trading entity in terms of value of merchandise trade.

Imports

Electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances, and their electrical parts. constituted the largest share of total imports in 2010 at $956.8 billion, followed by telecommunications and sound recording and reproducing apparatus and equipment ($457.2 billion) and office machines and automatic data processing machines ($322.7 billion).

In 2010, the Mainland, Japan and Singapore were Hong Kong's major suppliers, accounting for 45.5 per cent, 9.2 per cent and 7.1 per cent respectively of the total value of imports.

Domestic Exports

Telecommunications and sound recording and reproducing apparatus and equipment formed the largest component of domestic exports, valued at $10.5 billion or 15.2 per cent of the total value of domestic exports in 2010. Other major export items included plastics in primary forms; jewellery, goldsmiths' and silversmiths' wares, other articles of precious or semi-precious materials and electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances, and their electrical parts.

The Mainland, the US and Singapore were Hong Kong's largest markets during the year, absorbing 44.9 per cent, 12 per cent and 4.1 per cent respectively of the total value of domestic exports.

Re-exports

In 2010, electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances, and their electrical parts worth $838.4 billion were the principal commodities re-exported (28.3 per cent of the total value of re-exports). This was followed by re-exports of telecommunications and sound recording and reproducing apparatus and equipment, which amounted to $500.5 billion (16.9 per cent of the total value of re-exports). The Mainland, Japan and Taiwan were the main origins of the re-exports, while the Mainland, the US and Japan were the main destinations.

The Manufacturing Sector

With the expansion of manufacturing activities offshore since the 1980s, Hong Kong has evolved into a strategic control centre with an increasingly globalised production network. In spite of Hong Kong's economic restructuring, the manufacturing sector continued to provide employment for 121 000 people (3.4 per cent of overall employment) in 2010.