Export volumes contract 7.8% in September

This marks the seventh straight month of decline.

The volume of Hong Kong's total exports of goods fell 7.8% YoY in September compared to the same month last year, according to data from the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD). The volume of imports of goods decreased by 11% YoY during the same period.

Also read: Exports down 7.2% in August

Export prices inched up 0.6% YoY, whilst the prices of imports of goods rose by 0.8% YoY.

For the third quarter, the volume of total exports dipped 0.2% YoY, whilst the volume of imports declined by 1.6% YoY.

This brings the total decline of export volumes to 5.9% YoY for the first nine months of 2019. Import volumes recorded a larger decline, falling 7.9% YoY in 9M 2019 compared to 9M 2018.

Export volumes to the USA crashed 23.6% YoY in September compared to a year earlier, extending the 10.1% YoY decline recorded last August. Exports to India also fell a further 10.7% YoY in September after plummeting 22.4% YoY in the previous month.

Export volumes to mainland China and Japan also decreased by 5.9% YoY and 4.9% YoY, respectively, whilst export prices to these two markets rose 1.6% YoY and 0.6% YoY respectively.

In contrast, export volume to Taiwan jumped 13.7% YoY in September.

Total export prices to the USA (-0.4% YoY), Taiwan (-0.8% YoY) and India (-1.7% YoY) fell on a yearly basis.

Imports from South Korea (-24.8%) and Singapore (-17.8%) recorded the largest declines, diminishing 24.8% YoY and 17.8% YoY in September, respectively. Imports from mainland China also posted a double-digit decrease, falling by 10.6% YoY. Import volumes from Japan also dipped 2.1% YoY.

On the other hand, the import volume from Taiwan climbed by 4.1% YoY.

In September, import prices from the Mainland (1.6%), Japan (0.8%) and Singapore (0.3%) increased. Conversely, the import prices from Taiwan (-1.4%) and Korea (-1.6%) fell.