Hongkong exports fall by 19.9pc in july

Hong Kong exports plunged 19.9 per cent year- on-year in July, as
overseas demand for Chinese goods remained subdued despite talk of a
global economic recovery, the government said Tuesday. The total
value of shipments dropped to 212.3 billion Hong Kong dollars
($27.22b), the Census and Statistics Department said in a statement.
The decline was significantly bigger than the 5.4 per cent
year-on-year drop in June, when the government recorded the first
single-digit fall in seven months. For the first seven months of
the year, the value of total exports fell 17.7 per cent from the
same period in 2008 as the global slump hit southern China's
manufacturing heartland, which ships many of its products through
Hong Kong. The sharpest drop in the month was recorded for
exports to Malaysia, Britain and Germany, which were all down about
30 per cent year-on- year. The value of imports decreased 17.8 per
cent to 233.9 billion dollars in July. A government spokesman said
the widened decline in July was a regional phenomenon, as the figure
in many other Asian economies continued to be larger than Hong Kong.
The spokesman added the fall suggested that the recovery path would
be 'rather uneven in the period ahead given that demand in overseas
markets has yet to show visible improvement in the near term.'