Sluggish global growth momentum drags Hong Kong’s export performance

The city’s total export dropped by 8.9% YoY in July.

Hong Kong’s export performance will continue to decline amidst a worsening external environment and continued disruptions to cross-boundary land transportation, a government spokesman revealed.

“Exports to the Mainland, the US and the EU showed widened declines, while those to other major Asian markets saw a mixed performance,” the government official said.

In the latest report by Hong Kong’s Census and Statistics Department (C&SD), the values of Hong Kong’s total exports and imports of goods were both recorded year-on-year (YoY) decreased in July, at 8.9% and 9.9% respectively.

The total value of exports of goods went down to $379.6b in July, a decrease of 6.4% compared to June 2022. Imports, meanwhile, decreased to $407.2b last month, a 0.5% YoY decrease compared to June 2022.

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The report said that there is a visible trade deficit of $27.6b equivalent to 6.8% of the value of imports of goods recorded in July 2022.

For the first seven months of 2022, the value of total exports of goods dropped by 1% compared to the same period in 2021. However, the value of imports of goods increased by 0.2% comparing the same periods. A visible trade deficit of $234.6b, equivalent to 8% of the value of imports of goods, was recorded in the first seven months of 2022.

Comparing the three-month period ending July 2022 with the preceding three months on a seasonally adjusted basis, the value of total exports of goods decreased by 1.5%. Meanwhile, the value of imports of goods increased by 1.6%.

Country comparisons

As a whole, total exports to Asia dropped by 7.8%. The decreases were registered in the values of total exports to major destinations such as Japan (-17.5%), mainland China (-10.7%), and Taiwan (-4.4%).

This was partially offset by increases recorded in the values of total exports to India (+33.2%), Singapore (+26.5%), Malaysia (+23.7%) and Vietnam (+19.7%).

Apart from destinations in Asia, decreases were registered in the values of total exports to some major destinations in other regions, in particular the United Kingdom (-29.2%), the USA (-15.8%) and Germany (-14.5%).

For the first seven months of 2022 as a whole, YoY decreases were registered in the values of total exports to some major destinations, in particular the Mainland and Japan. Meanwhile, values of total exports to India increased by 57.2%, United Arab Emirates by 30.1%, Singapore by 28.7%, and Vietnam by 24%.

Commodity decreases

The C&SD saw that particular commodities decreased in export values in July. The top commodities that suffered a decrease were telecommunications and sound recording and reproducing apparatus and equipment (-28.6%), office machines and automatic data processing machines (-15.3%), and electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances, and electrical parts (-2.8%).

On the other hand, an increase was registered in the value of total exports of "professional, scientific and controlling instruments and apparatus" (43.%).

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Imports in telecommunications and sound recording and reproducing apparatus and equipment also decreased by 26.3%, whilst electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances, and electrical parts fell by 5.6%

Looking forward, the Hong Kong government still expects export performance to continue to be dragged by the weakening global growth momentum. 

“Aggressive monetary policy tightening in advanced economies to curb inflation will weigh on global demand. Heightened geopolitical tensions and pandemic-induced supply-chain disruptions also add to the headwinds. The government will monitor the situation closely,” the government official said.