Hong Kong's exports, imports continue to drop in February

HONG KONG, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong's exports and imports of goods both dropped in February from the same period last Year, official data showed on Tuesday.

The value of total exports of goods shrank by 6.9 percent over a Year earlier to 228.7 billion HK dollars (29.32 billion U.S. dollars) in February, after a Year-on-Year decrease of 0.4 percent in January, according to the Census and Statistics Department of the government of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

The value of imports of goods shrank by 3.8 percent over a Year earlier to 277.5 billion HK dollars in February, after a Year-on-Year decrease of 6 percent in January.

A visible trade deficit of 48.8 billion HK dollars, equivalent to 17.6 percent of the value of imports of goods, was recorded in February.

Taking the first two months of 2019 together to remove the effect from the difference in timing of the Lunar New Year holidays, the value of merchandise exports decreased by 3.1 percent over a Year earlier.

A government spokesman said that, similar to the situations in many other Asian economies, Hong Kong's merchandise exports remained weak in early 2019, dampened by easing global economic growth and the trade tensions.