April saw the value of Hong Kong's total goods exports risse 21.7% on the same month last year to $242.2 billion, while the value of imports rose 28.8% to $277.5 billion, the Census & Statistics Department says.

Within total exports, the value of re-exports rose 21.7% to $236.7 billion while the value of domestic exports grew 19.7% to $5.5 billion. A visible trade deficit of $35.2 billion, equivalent to 12.7% of the value of goods imports, was recorded in April.

Merchandise exports rose further in April, though at a less rapid year-on-year pace than in the preceding month, the department said. The Asian markets continued to outperform the US and EU markets, although the latter also showed some relative improvement.

Future outlook

The robust growth of the Asian region should continue to render support to Hong Kong's trade performance in the coming months. However, the European sovereign debt problem is posing a downside to the external environment.

The austerity measures the indebted European countries are to implement may put a drag on the already fragile recovery in Europe and hence weigh on Hong Kong's export outlook in the latter part of the year.

For the first four months of 2010 as a whole, the value of total goods exports rose 24.8%. The value of re-exports grew 24.8%, while the value of domestic exports rose  22.1%.

The value of goods imports soared 32.8%. A visible trade deficit of $123.4 billion, equivalent to 12.3% of the value of goods imports, was recorded in the first four months.