HONG KONG - HONG Kong exports dropped 5.3 per cent year-on-year in November on the back of the global economic slowdown, government data released on Monday showed.
The figure was a drastic decline from the 9.4 per cent year-on-year increase in October, the Census and Statistics Department said in a statement.
The value of total exported goods, mainly produced in southern China's factory belt, rose to 231.2 billion Hong Kong dollars (S$42.5 billion), the figures showed.
The value of imported goods decreased by 7.9 per cent on a year earlier to 239.3 billion dollars in November, after a year-on-year increase of 11.3 per cent in October.
The visible trade deficit was 8.2 billion dollars, equivalent to 3.4 per cent of the value of imports, the figures showed.
A government spokesman said that the performance of merchandise exports worsened in November, against the background of the recession in the advanced economies and the deteriorating economic conditions in Asia as well as in the emerging markets.
'The synchronised global economic downturn is beginning to take its toll on world trade. The near-term outlook for Hong Kong's exports is bound to be negatively affected,' he said, adding the government would monitor the situation closely. -- AFP
