The value of Hong Kong's total exports of goods increased 16.8 percent in November as compared with the same month of last year, the Hong Kong government's Census and Statistics Department said here Tuesday.

According to the department, the value of the total exports of goods in November is 179.7 billion Hong Kong dollars (23.04 billion US dollars). Within this total, the value of re-exports rose 17 percent to 168.5 billion Hong Kong dollars (21.60 billion US dollars), while the value of domestic exports increased 13.7 percent to 11.1 billion Hong Kong dollars (1.42 billion US dollars).

In the same period, the value of imports of goods increased 11.2 percent over a year earlier to 179.9 billion Hong Kong dollars (23.06 billion US dollars) in November.

A visible trade deficit of 200 million Hong Kong dollars (25.64million US dollars), equivalent to 0.1 percent of the value of goods imports, was recorded in November. This was smaller than thecorresponding deficit of 8 billion Hong Kong dollars (1.03 billionUS dollars) recorded in November 2003, the department said.

The department noted merchandise exports maintained notable growth in November, marked by an almost across-the-board pick-up in exports to the major markets. Exports to the East Asian marketsre-accelerated in growth, with double-digit increases registered in many constituent economies. Exports to the European Union remained strong, while exports to the United States grew.

For the first 11 months of the year, the value of total goods exports rose 16.2 percent over the same period in 2003. In the same period, the value of goods imports increased 17.6 percent. A visible trade deficit of 83 billion Hong Kong dollars (10.64 billion US dollars), equivalent to 4.3 percent of the value of imports of goods, was recorded in the first 11 months of 2004. This was larger than the corresponding deficit of 52 billion Hong Kong dollars (6.67 billion US dollars) recorded in the same periodin 2003, it said.

Source: Xinhua