FS to visit Shanghai tomorrow

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

FS to visit Shanghai tomorrow 
The Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr Christopher Hui, will participate in the visit.
 
Mr Chan will return to Hong Kong in the afternoon of June 18. During his absence, the Deputy Financial Secretary, Mr Michael Wong, will act as Financial Secretary. During Mr Hui’s absence, the Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr Joseph Chan, will be the Acting Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury.
Issued at HKT 17:00

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Rosanna Law to visit Shanghai

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

Secretary for Culture, Sports & Tourism Rosanna Law will depart for Shanghai tomorrow to officiate at the opening ceremony and dinner of WestK Shanghai Week 2025, at the invitation of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority. 

Miss Law will also visit tourism and cultural facilities as well as meet relevant officials before returning to Hong Kong on Wednesday.

During her absence, Under Secretary for Culture, Sports & Tourism Raistlin Lau will be Acting Secretary.

Volume and price statistics of external merchandise trade in April 2025

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

Volume and price statistics of external merchandise trade in April 2025 
     In April 2025, the volume of Hong Kong’s total exports of goods and imports of goods increased by 12.3% and 13.4% respectively over April 2024.
 
     Comparing the first four months of 2025 with the same period in 2024, the volume of Hong Kong’s total exports of goods and imports of goods increased by 9.6% and 8.9% respectively.
 
     Comparing the three-month period ending April 2025 with the preceding three months on a seasonally adjusted basis, the volume of total exports of goods and imports of goods increased by 10.4% and 10.3% respectively.
 
     Changes in volume of external merchandise trade are derived from changes in external merchandise trade value with the effect of price changes discounted.
 
     Comparing April 2025 with April 2024, the prices of total exports of goods and imports of goods increased by 2.2% and 2.1% respectively.
 
     As regards price changes in the first four months of 2025 over the same period in 2024, the prices of total exports of goods and imports of goods both increased by 2.0%.
 
     Price changes in external merchandise trade are reflected by changes in unit value indices of external merchandise trade, which are compiled based on average unit values or, for certain commodities, specific price data.
 
     The terms of trade index is derived from the ratio of price index of total exports of goods to that of imports of goods. Compared with the same periods in 2024, the index increased by 0.1% in April 2025, whereas it remained virtually unchanged in the first four months of 2025.
 
     Changes in the unit value and volume of total exports of goods by main destination are shown in Table 1.
 
     Comparing April 2025 with April 2024, increases were recorded for the total export volume to all main destinations: Vietnam (45.3%), India (23.2%), the mainland of China (the Mainland) (20.2%), Taiwan (18.2%) and the USA (0.3%).
 
     Over the same period of comparison, the total export prices to Taiwan (4.8%), the Mainland (2.3%), Vietnam (2.0%) and the USA (0.9%) increased. On the other hand, the total export prices to India decreased by 1.2%.
 
     Changes in the unit value and volume of imports of goods by main supplier are shown in Table 2.
 
     Comparing April 2025 with April 2024, increases were recorded for the import volume from Vietnam (93.6%), Taiwan (41.8%), the Mainland (14.5%) and Singapore (5.0%). On the other hand, the import volume from Korea decreased by 25.8%.
 
     Over the same period of comparison, the import prices from all main suppliers increased: Korea (5.3%), Taiwan (5.2%), Singapore (2.4%), Vietnam (0.7%) and the Mainland (0.6%).
 
Further information
 
     Details of the above statistics are published in the April 2025 issue of “Hong Kong Merchandise Trade Index Numbers”. Users can browse and download the report at the website of the C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/en/EIndexbySubject.html?pcode=B1020006&scode=230 
     Enquiries on merchandise trade indices may be directed to the Trade Analysis Section of the C&SD (Tel: 2582 4918).
Issued at HKT 16:30

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Hong Kong’s Gross National Income and external primary income flows for the first quarter of 2025

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

     The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) released today (June 16) the preliminary statistics on Hong Kong’s Gross National Income (GNI) and related figures for the first quarter of 2025.
 
     Hong Kong’s GNI, which denotes the total income earned by Hong Kong residents from engaging in various economic activities, increased by 6.2% in the first quarter of 2025 over a year earlier to $879.4 billion at current market prices. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP), estimated at $799.7 billion at current market prices in the same quarter, recorded a 4.3% increase over a year earlier. The value of GNI was larger than GDP by $79.7 billion in the first quarter of 2025, which was equivalent to 10.0% of GDP in that quarter, mainly attributable to a net inflow of investment income.
 
     After netting out the effect of price changes over the same period, Hong Kong’s GNI increased by 4.0% in real terms in the first quarter of 2025 over a year earlier. The corresponding GDP in the same quarter increased by 3.1% in real terms.
 
     Hong Kong’s total inflow of primary income, which mainly comprises investment income, estimated at $521.3 billion in the first quarter of 2025 and equivalent to 65.2% of GDP in that quarter, recorded an increase of 5.3% over a year earlier.  Meanwhile, total primary income outflow, estimated at $441.6 billion in the first quarter of 2025 and equivalent to 55.2% of GDP in that quarter, also increased by 1.8% over a year earlier.
 
     As for the major components of investment income inflow, direct investment income (DII) increased by 3.4% over a year earlier, mainly due to the increase in earnings of some prominent local enterprises from their direct investment abroad.  Portfolio investment income (PII) recorded a significant increase of 36.7% over a year earlier, mainly attributable to the increase in dividend income received by resident investors from their holdings of non-resident equity securities and the increase in interest income received by resident investors from their holdings of non-resident debt securities.
 
     Regarding the major components of investment income outflow, DII increased by 4.2% over a year earlier, mainly due to the increase in earnings of some prominent multinational enterprises from their direct investment in Hong Kong. PII increased significantly by 14.0%, mainly attributable to the increase in interest payout to non-resident investors from their holdings of resident debt securities.
 
     Analysed by country/territory, the mainland of China continued to be the largest source of Hong Kong’s total primary income inflow in the first quarter of 2025, accounting for 42.4%. This was followed by the British Virgin Islands (BVI), with a share of 16.7%. Regarding total primary income outflow, the mainland of China and the BVI remained the most important destinations in the first quarter of 2025, accounting for 29.9% and 21.3% respectively.
 
Further Information
 
     GDP and GNI are closely related indicators for measuring economic performance. GDP is a measure of the total value of production of all resident producing units of an economy. GNI denotes the total income earned by residents of an economy from engaging in various economic activities, irrespective of whether the economic activities are carried out within the economic territory of the economy or outside.
 
     Figures of GNI and primary income flows analysed by income component from the second quarter of 2023 to the first quarter of 2025 are presented in Table A, while selected major country/territory breakdowns of primary income inflow and outflow for the same quarters are presented in Tables B(1) and B(2) respectively.
 
     Statistics on GDP and GNI from 2023 onwards and primary income flows from 2024 onwards are subject to revision when more data are incorporated.
 
     More detailed statistics are given in the report “Gross National Income and External Primary Income Flows, First Quarter 2025”. Users can browse and download this publication at the website of the C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/en/EIndexbySubject.html?pcode=B1040005&scode=250).
 
     For enquiries about GNI and related statistics, please contact the Balance of Payments Branch (2) of the C&SD (Tel: 3903 7054 or email: gni@censtatd.gov.hk).

June 2025 issue of “Hong Kong Monthly Digest of Statistics” now available

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

     The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) published today (June 16) the June 2025 issue of the “Hong Kong Monthly Digest of Statistics” (HKMDS).
 
     Apart from providing up-to-date statistics, this issue also contains a feature article entitled “The Cultural and Creative Industries in Hong Kong”.
 
“The Cultural and Creative Industries in Hong Kong”
 
     The cultural and creative industries are among the most dynamic economic sectors in Hong Kong, contributing to both economic growth and job creation. They comprise a set of knowledge-based activities that deploy creativity and intellectual capital as primary inputs and deliver goods and services with cultural, artistic and creative contents. This feature article provides the statistics of the cultural and creative industries in Hong Kong for 2019 to 2023.
 
     For enquiries about this feature article, please contact the Construction and Miscellaneous Services Statistics Section of the C&SD (Tel: 3903 6962; email: asps@censtatd.gov.hk).
 
     Published in bilingual form, the HKMDS is a compact volume of official statistics containing about 130 tables. It collects up-to-date statistical series on various aspects of the social and economic situation of Hong Kong. Topics include population; labour; external trade; National Income and Balance of Payments; prices; business performance; energy; housing and property; government accounts, finance and insurance; and transport, communications and tourism. For selected key statistical items, over 20 charts depicting the annual trend in the past decade and quarterly or monthly trend in the recent two years are also available. Users can download the Digest at the website of the C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/en/EIndexbySubject.html?pcode=B1010002&scode=460).
 
     Enquiries about the contents of the Digest can be directed to the Statistical Information Dissemination Section (1) of the C&SD (Tel: 2582 4738; email: gen-enquiry@censtatd.gov.hk).

Taiwan FDI Statistics Summary Analysis (May 2025)

Source: Republic of China Taiwan

According to the statistics, 819 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects with a total amount of US$5,482,475,000 were approved from January to May 2024. This indicates a decrease of 9.8% in the number of cases, but an increase of 76.64% in FDI amount compared to the same period of 2024.

With regard to inward investment from Mainland China, 8 cases were approved with an amount of US$96,616,000 from January to May 2025. This indicates a decrease of 50% in the number of cases, but an increase of 515.9% in the FDI amount compared to the same period of 2024.

In terms of Taiwan’s outbound investment (excluding Mainland China), 335 projects were registered from January to May 2025 with a total amount of US$15,222,183,000, indicating an increase of 10.93% in the number of cases, and an increase of 13.82% in the amount, as compared to the same period of 2024.

As for Taiwan’s outward investment to Mainland China, 75 applications have been approved from January to May 2025, indicating a decrease of 40% compared to the same period of 2024. The approved investment amount is US$458,348,000, 63.93% less than the same period in 2024.

Int’l volleyball event gets ‘M’ Mark

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

The Major Sports Events Committee today announced that it has awarded “M” Mark status to the Volleyball Nations League (VNL) Hong Kong 2025 presented by China Life (Overseas) to be held from Wednesday to Sunday.

Major Sports Events Committee Chairman Wilfred Ng said the competition has moved to Kai Tak Arena and will be the first international volleyball event held at Kai Tak Sports Park.

“The VNL Hong Kong features elite teams from around the world. It not only promotes the development of volleyball in Hong Kong but also attracts overseas visitors to come to Hong Kong and stimulates the development of the hospitality, retail, and catering sectors, thereby further solidifying Hong Kong’s status as a centre for major international sports events.”

SCST to visit Shanghai

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

The Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, Miss Rosanna Law, will depart for Shanghai tomorrow morning (June 17), where she has been invited by the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority to officiate at the opening ceremony and dinner of WestK Shanghai Week 2025.
 
During her stay in Shanghai, Miss Law will also visit local tourism and cultural facilities and meet with relevant officials.
 
Miss Law will return to Hong Kong at night on June 18 (Wednesday). During her absence, the Under Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, Mr Raistlin Lau, will be the Acting Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism.

“M” Mark status awarded to Volleyball Nations League Hong Kong 2025 presented by China Life (Overseas)

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

“M” Mark status awarded to Volleyball Nations League Hong Kong 2025 presented by China Life (Overseas) 
The Major Sports Events Committee (MSEC) has awarded “M” Mark status to the Volleyball Nations League (VNL) Hong Kong 2025 presented by China Life (Overseas), scheduled to take place from June 18 to 22 at Kai Tak Arena.
 
The Chairman of the MSEC, Mr Wilfred Ng, said today (June 16), “The competition has moved to Kai Tak Arena, which is the first international volleyball event held at Kai Tak Sports Park. The VNL Hong Kong features elite teams from around the world. It not only promotes the development of volleyball in Hong Kong but also attracts overseas visitors to come to Hong Kong and stimulates the development of the hospitality, retail, and catering sectors, thereby further solidifying Hong Kong’s status as a centre for major international sports events.”
 
The “M” Mark System aims to encourage and help local National Sports Associations and private or non-government organisations to organise more major international sports events and nurture them into sustainable undertakings. Sports events meeting the assessment criteria will be considered for “M” Mark status by the MSEC. Funding support will also be provided to some events.
 
For details of “M” Mark events, please visit www.mevents.org.hkIssued at HKT 14:00

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