Hong Kong exports goods down by 16.9%

The value of Hong Kong's total exports of goods fell 16.9 percent to 215.7 billion HK dollars (about 27.8 billion U.S. dollars) in February from a year ago, the city's statistics department said Tuesday.Within this total, the value of re-exports decreased 16.8 percent from a year ago to 212.5 billion HK dollars, while the value of domestic exports lost 24.6 percent to 3.3 billion HK dollars.Concurrently, the value of imports of goods fell 18.3 percent over a year earlier to 249.7 billion HK dollars, and a visible trade deficit of 34 billion HK dollars was recorded in February.Taking January and February as a whole to neutralize the distortion caused by the difference in timing of the Lunar New Year holiday, the value of total exports of goods rose 0.3 percent from a year ago, with the value of re-exports up 0.4 percent and that of domestic exports down 3.4 percent.Concurrently, the value of imports of goods rose 1.4 percent, and a visible trade deficit of 61.2 billion HK dollars was recorded in the first two months of 2013.