Hong Kong's export value up 7.2 pct in February

The value of Hong Kong's total exports for February rose 7.2 percent from a year ago, while the value of imports of good fell 0.9 percent year-on-year, the statistics department said here Thursday.

Taking January and February as a whole to neutralize the distortion caused by the difference in timing of the Lunar New Year holidays, the value of total exports of goods rose 4.6 percent from a year earlier, and the value of imports of goods increased 3.9 percent.

A visible trade deficit of 72.6 billion HK dollars (about 9.4 billion U.S. dollars), equivalent to 11.8 percent of the value of imports of goods, was recorded in the first two months of 2015.

A government spokesman said exports to the United States and some Asian economies saw more visible growth, nevertheless, given the still-challenging global economic outlook, more observations will be needed to ascertain if the moderate growth trend will continue in the period ahead.

The spokesman said the external trading environment remains overshadowed by various uncertainties, including the slow pace of recovery in some advanced economies, diverging monetary policy stances of major central banks, and geopolitical tensions in various regions. Endi