May saw the volume of total goods exports fall 12.6% and that of imports drop 16.2% on the same month last year, the Census & Statistics Department says. The volume of goods re-exports fell 11.8% while that of domestic exports dropped 35.5%.

The volume of goods re-exports in the first five months fell 18.1% while that of domestic exports dropped 40.4%. Taken together the volume of total goods exports fell 18.9% while that of goods imports dropped 19.4%.

In May the price of goods re-exports rose 0.5% on a year earlier while that of domestic exports grew 0.8%. Taken together the price of total goods exports rose 0.6%. The price of goods imports fell 0.8%.

Comparing the first five months to the same period last year, the price of goods re-exports grew 1.8% while that of domestic exports rose 1.7%. Taken together the price of total goods exports grew 1.8%. The price of goods imports rose 0.3%.

The terms of the trade index rose 1.4% in May over the same period last year and 1.5% in the first five months of 2009.

The month saw the total export volume to Germany and Japan dip 24.2% and 22% on a year earlier. The total export volume to the US, the UK and the Mainland fell 16.3%, 13.4% and 6.6%.

Total export prices to Germany, the US, Japan and the UK rose 3.4%, 2.6%, 1.8% and 0.7%, but fell 0.3% to the Mainland.

The import volume from Japan and Singapore fell 28.4% and 21.2%. Double-digit falls were recorded for the import volume from Taiwan (-18.2%), the US (-15.8%) and the Mainland (-13.5%).

Import prices from Singapore, Taiwan and the US dropped 6.6%, 0.8% and 0.8% while those from Japan and the Mainland rose 0.2% and 0.9%.