January saw Hong Kong's total goods exports values rise 15.8% to $240.1 billion, while goods imports values climbed 16.9% to $247.6 billion on a year earlier, the Census & Statistics Department says.

This resulted in a visible trade deficit of $7.5 billion, equivalent to 3% of the goods import value.

Merchandise exports grew strongly in January due mainly to the robust performance of the Mainland market and other emerging economies. The EU market's notable expansion also contributed.

The global trading environment remains rather uncertain, as the US economy continues to weaken and the financial market turmoil has yet to settle. Nevertheless, the strong growth momentum in many emerging economies, particularly the Mainland, should continue to support Hong Kong's trade performance.

Among the total exports, the re-export value rose 16.4% to $231.6 billion while the domestic export value grew 0.8% to $8.5 billion.

Comparing the quarter ending in January with the preceding three months on a seasonally adjusted basis, the total goods export value rose 4.4%, with re-export value up 4.5% and domestic export value up 2.2%. The goods import value went up 5%.

Exports to India surged

Exports to Asia rose 20%, with export values to India up 140%, to Malaysia, up 38%, to Indonesia, up 37.9%, to Thailand, up 27%, and to the Mainland, up 20.4%.

Significant increases were also registered in the values of total exports to other major destinations, in particular Germany (up 17.1%) and the Netherlands (up 15.7%).

The month also saw rises registered in the import values from India (up 55.7%), the Philippines (40.4%), Thailand (32.2%), Malaysia (28.4%) and Taiwan (25.8%).

Significant increases were registered in the export values of many principal commodity divisions, in particular telecommunications and sound recording and reproducing apparatus and equipment (up $14.7 billion or 55.6%), electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances, and electrical parts ($13.3 billion or 29.7%) and miscellaneous manufactured articles consisting mainly of baby carriages, toys, games and sporting goods ($2.8 billion or 15.7%).

For import values, significant rises were registered in most principal commodity divisions, in particular electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances, and electrical parts (up $13.4 billion or 28.4%), telecommunications and sound recording and reproducing apparatus and equipment (up $11.7 billion or 49.3%) and miscellaneous manufactured articles consisting mainly of baby carriages, toys, games and sporting goods (up $3.6 billion or 24.3%).