The value of Hong Kong’s total goods exports increased to $441.8 billion in September, up 16.5% on the same month last year, the Census & Statistics Department announced today.

The value of imports of goods jumped 23.5% to $484.2 billion for the same period.

A trade deficit of $42.4 billion, or 8.8% of the value of imports, was recorded for the month.

Comparing the third quarter this year with the preceding quarter on a seasonally adjusted basis, the value of exports increased 0.3%, while that of imports rose 2.1%.

The Government said the value of merchandise exports continued to expand visibly in September over a year earlier despite a higher base of comparison.

Exports to the Mainland, the US, the EU and many other key Asian markets posted double-digit growth.

The total merchandise trade value amounted to $7.4337 trillion for the first nine months of the year, surpassing the high in the same period in 2018 by 13.2%, it added.

Looking ahead, the global economic recovery should remain supportive to external demand in the near term.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic development will continue to cast uncertainties over the global economic outlook. Meanwhile, supply bottlenecks in many places may hinder global production and trading activities, the Government noted.