Xifres de comerç exterior de Hong Kong SAR, Xina

Foreign Trade in Figures

Hong Kong's economy is considered a model of capitalism due to its commitment to free trade, with foreign trade representing 384% of its GDP, the second-largest share worldwide after Luxembourg (World Bank, latest data available). In 2022, the largest category of imports into Hong Kong comprised "electrical machinery, apparatus, appliances, and their electrical components," constituting 45.7% of the total. Other significant import categories included "telecommunications, sound recording, and reproduction equipment," accounting for 11.3%, and "office machines and automatic data processing machines," making up 8.4% of Hong Kong's import value in the same year. As per exports, telecommunications equipment had the largest share (41.3%), followed by computer products and hardware (34.7%) and parts and accessories of computer hardware (22.2% - data Census and Statistics Department).

In 2022, export destinations included China (57.4%), the United States (6.2%), India (3.7%), Vietnam (2.4%), Japan (2.1%), the United Arab Emirates (2.1%), and Singapore (2.0%), whereas imports came chiefly from China (40.1%), Singapore (7.7%), South Korea (5.6%), Japan (5.3%), the United States (4.2%), Malaysia (3.4%), and Vietnam (2.7% - data Comtrade). Hong Kong was the world's 10th exporter and 11th importer in 2022 (WTO).

According to data by WTO, Hong Kong merchandise exports reached USD 609.9 billion in 2022 (-8.9% y-o-y), compared to USD 667.5 billion in imports (-6.3% y-o-y). As per services, exports stood at USD 82.9 billion against USD 63 billion in imports (+4.8% and +2.1% y-o-y, respectively). The overall trade balance for the year was estimated to be positive by 3.9% of the country’s GDP by the World Bank. The latest data from the Census and Statistics Department show that throughout 2023, there was a 7.8% decline in the total value of exported goods compared to 2022 (at HKD 4.1 billion), while concurrently, there was a 5.7% decrease in the value of imported goods (HKD 4.6 billion). Looking forward, factors such as heightened geopolitical tensions and a deceleration in global economic growth will persistently impact Hong Kong's export performance in the near future.