The values of Hong Kong's total goods exports increased to $474.4 billion in November, up 25% compared with the same month last year, the Census & Statistics Department announced today.

The value of imports of goods rose 20% to $486 billion for the same period.

A trade deficit of $11.6 billion, or 2.4% of the value of imports, was recorded for the month.

Comparing the three-month period ending November with the preceding three months on a seasonally adjusted basis, the value of total exports decreased 1.4% while that of imports fell 1.8%.

The Government said that the value of merchandise exports saw an accelerated year-on-year growth in November.

Exports to the Mainland, the US and the European Union all continued to grow notably, and those to other major Asian markets also showed double-digit increases.

For the first 11 months of this year, total merchandise trade value amounted to $9.2584 trillion, surpassing the high in the same period in 2018 by 13.6%.

Looking ahead, the continued global economic recovery should remain supportive to Hong Kong's export performance in the near term.

However, the threat from the rapid spread of the Omicron variant in many places recently, together with the disruptions arising from supply bottlenecks, may weigh on global economic growth.

Developments of China-US relations, monetary and fiscal policies in major economies and geopolitical tensions also warrant attention, the Government added.