Exports hit fresh seven-decade lows

Hong Kong's exports plunged in December by the most since the 1950s at 28.9 percent, extending an eight-month streak of declines fueled by China's slowdown and a global demand dropoff.

That was also worse than the 23.4 percent decline economists had expected and more severe than November's 24.1 percent fall, already the worst since 1954, the Census and Statistics Department said yesterday.

Last month's 23.5 percent slide in imports was deeper than November's 20.3 percent drop, the worst since the global financial crisis. The trade deficit was HK$51.6 billion.

The widening deterioration in exports reflected the "significant drags of the deteriorating external environment and disruptions to cross-boundary land transportation," a government spokesman said in a statement.

For 2022 as a whole, the value of total exports and imports dropped by 8.6 percent and 7.2 percent from a year earlier. The full-year deficit was HK$395.8 billion.

The export performance "will continue to be adversely affected by the weak global growth in the near term," the spokesman said, adding though that the recent relaxation of border restrictions "should offset some of the pressure."