Trade talk: May saw Hong Kong's volume of goods re-exports fall 0.5% over the same month last year, while domestic exports grew 20.1% and goods imports were up 0.9%.

May saw Hong Kong's volume of goods re-exports fall 0.5% over the same month last year, while domestic exports grew 20.1% and goods imports were up 0.9%, the Census & Statistics Department says.

Comparing the first five months of this year with the same period in 2005, the volume of goods re-exports rose by 9.5% while that of domestic exports was up 35.2%. The volume of goods imports rose 10.5%.

The price of goods re-exports in May grew 0.7% year-on-year, while those of domestic exports fell 3.7% and goods imports rose 2.1%.

Goods re-exports

The price of goods re-exports grew 0.2% in the January-May period, compared with the same time last year, while those of domestic exports were down 3.4%, and goods imports grew 1.2%.

The terms of trade index - derived from the ratio of price index of total goods exports to that of goods imports - fell 1.6% in May and 1.2% in the first five months.

In terms of volume, the month's re-exports saw consumer goods fall 7.7% on May 2005, capital goods were down 4.1%, and raw materials and semi-manufacturers rose 9.3%.

In terms of prices, the month's re-exports saw fuels increase by 32.3% over the same month last year - the category recording the highest monthly growth rate.

In domestic exports, May's clothing volume saw 85.2% year-on-year growth, followed by a 67.8% increase in office machines and equipment.

In terms of prices, May saw domestic exports of metal manufacturers rise 12.4% over the same month last year while clothing fell 7.9% and electronic components were down 8.4%.

For the volume of goods imports, May marked the across-the-board increase, except for the consumer goods, which were down 0.7% from a year earlier. Foodstuffs grew 5.3% and fuels were up 4.1%.

Prices of imported fuels in May rose 26.8% compared with the same month last year.