Hong Kong saw the volume of total goods exports fall 16.1% in April and the volume of goods imports drop 15.2% year on year, Census & Statistics Department said on Thursday. The volume of goods re-exports fell 15.5% while that of domestic exports fell 37.2%.

The volume of goods re-exports in the first four months fell 19.8%, while that of domestic exports dropped 41.8%. Taken together, the volume of total goods exports fell 20.5% while the volume of goods imports dropped 20.3%.

Comparing the quarter ending April with a quarter earlier on a seasonally adjusted basis, the volume of total goods exports fell 6.9%. Within this, the volume of re-exports fell 6.8% while that of domestic exports dropped 7.7%. The volume of goods imports fell 7.2%.

In April, the prices of goods re-exports went up 1% on a year earlier while those of domestic exports grew 0.6%. Taken together, the prices of total goods exports rose 1%. The prices of goods imports fell 0.5%.

Comparing the first four months over a year earlier, the prices of goods re-exports grew 2.1% while those of domestic exports rose 2%. Taken together, the prices of total goods exports went up 2.1%. The prices of goods imports rose 0.6%.

The terms of trade index rose 1.4% in April over the same period last year and 1.5% in the first four months of 2009.

The month saw the total export volume to the UK, the US, Germany and Japan dip 28.7%, 26.1%, 23.8% and 22.3% on a year earlier. The total export volume to the Mainland fell 7.7%.

The total export prices to the US, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom rose 3.9%, 3.3%, 3.1% and 2.3%, while the total export prices to the Mainland fell 0.4%.

Double-digit falls were recorded for the import volume from Japan (-27.3%), the Mainland (-15.5%), Taiwan (-14.3%) and Singapore (-11.9%). The import volume from the US fell 1.9%.

The import prices from Singapore, Taiwan and the US dropped 5.7%, 2.5% and 0.6%, while those from Japan and the Mainland rose 0.1% and 1.7%.

Japan