Tag Archives: China

     Hong Kong Customs mounted a special operation codenamed “Sea Guardian” in August and September, with three suspected smuggling cases involving ocean-going vessels detected. A large batch of suspected smuggled electronic goods with a total estimated market value of about $500 million was seized.

     Through intelligence analysis and risk assessment, Customs, suspecting that criminals were using ocean-going vessels to smuggle goods, planned an enforcement operation and identified three suspicious containers scheduled to depart from Hong Kong for Malaysia, as well as a container scheduled to be shipped to Tianjin, via ocean-going vessels for inspection. 

     Customs inspected the four containers that were declared as carrying aluminium materials, aluminium alloys and citric acid respectively on August 20, September 3 and September 9. Upon the examinations, Customs officers found large batches of suspected smuggled electronic goods, including central processing units, display cards, circuit boards and random-access memory in the containers.

     An investigation is ongoing. The likelihood of arrests is not ruled out.

     Being a government department primarily responsible for tackling smuggling activities, Customs has long been combating various smuggling activities at the forefront. Customs will keep up its enforcement action and continue to strategically combat sea smuggling activities through proactive risk management and intelligence-based enforcement strategies, and carry out targeted anti-smuggling operations at suitable times to disrupt relevant crimes.

     Smuggling is a serious offence. Under the Import and Export Ordinance, any person found guilty of importing or exporting unmanifested cargo is liable to a maximum fine of $2 million and imprisonment for seven years upon conviction.

     Members of the public may report any suspected smuggling activities to Customs’ 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk) or online form (eform.cefs.gov.hk/form/ced002).

      

     The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) published today (September 16) the September 2024 issue of the "Hong Kong Monthly Digest of Statistics" (HKMDS).      Apart from providing up-to-date statis… read more

     Further to the external merchandise trade statistics in value terms for July 2024 released earlier on, the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) released today (September 16) the volume and price statistics of external merchandise trade for that month.
 
     In July 2024, the volume of Hong Kong’s total exports of goods and imports of goods increased by 8.7% and 6.5% respectively over July 2023.
 
     Comparing the first seven months of 2024 with the same period in 2023, the volume of Hong Kong’s total exports of goods and imports of goods increased by 7.8% and 4.1% respectively.
 
     Comparing the three-month period ending July 2024 with the preceding three months on a seasonally adjusted basis, the volume of total exports of goods and imports of goods increased by 0.6% and 2.0% 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 July 2024 with July 2023, the prices of total exports of goods and imports of goods increased by 3.9% and 2.8% respectively.
 
     As regards price changes in the first seven months of 2024 over the same period in 2023, the prices of total exports of goods and imports of goods increased by 4.1% and 3.7% respectively.
 
     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 2023, the index increased by 1.0% in July 2024 and 0.4% in the first seven months of 2024.
 
     Changes in the unit value and volume of total exports of goods by main destination are shown in Table 1.
 
     Comparing July 2024 with July 2023, increases were recorded for the total export volume to Vietnam (20.4%), the mainland of China (the Mainland) (16.7%) and the USA (12.2%). On the other hand, the total export volume to Taiwan (-8.0%) and India (-27.6%) decreased.
 
     Over the same period of comparison, the total export prices to the USA (6.0%), the Mainland (5.3%), Taiwan (3.2%) and Vietnam (1.5%) increased. On the other hand, the total export prices to India decreased by 1.4%.
 
     Changes in the unit value and volume of imports of goods by main supplier are shown in Table 2.
 
     Comparing July 2024 with July 2023, increases were recorded for the import volume from Korea (27.3%), Taiwan (17.3%) and the Mainland (8.6%). On the other hand, the import volume from Singapore (-2.8%) and Japan (-5.7%) decreased.
 
     Over the same period of comparison, the import prices from all main suppliers increased: Singapore (5.2%), Korea (5.2%), the Mainland (3.0%), Taiwan (1.5%) and Japan (0.6%).
 
Further information
 
     Details of the above statistics are published in the July 2024 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). read more

     The effective exchange rate index for the Hong Kong dollar on Monday, September 16, 2024 is 103.5 (same as last Saturday’s index).

     The effective exchange rate index for the Hong Kong dollar on Saturday, September 14, 2024 was 103.5 (down 0.1 against last Friday’s index). read more

     In response to the Japanese Government’s plan to discharge nuclear-contaminated water at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Station, the Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene issued a Food Safety Order which prohibits all aquatic products, sea salt and seaweeds originating from the 10 metropolis/prefectures, namely Tokyo, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Miyagi, Chiba, Gunma, Tochigi, Niigata, Nagano and Saitama, from being imported into and supplied in Hong Kong.
 
     For other Japanese aquatic products, sea salt and seaweeds that are not prohibited from being imported into Hong Kong, the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department will conduct comprehensive radiological tests to verify that the radiation levels of these products do not exceed the guideline levels before they are allowed to be supplied in the market.
 
     As the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water is unprecedented and will continue for 30 years or more, the Government will closely monitor and step up the testing arrangements. Should anomalies be detected, the Government does not preclude further tightening the scope of the import ban.
 
     From noon on September 13 to noon today (September 16), the CFS conducted tests on the radiological levels of 345 food samples imported from Japan, which were of the “aquatic and related products, seaweeds and sea salt” category, in the past three days (including last Saturday and Sunday). No sample was found to have exceeded the safety limit. Details can be found on the CFS’s thematic website titled “Control Measures on Foods Imported from Japan” (www.cfs.gov.hk/english/programme/programme_rafs/programme_rafs_fc_01_30_Nuclear_Event_and_Food_Safety.html).
 
     In parallel, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) has also tested 150 samples of local catch for radiological levels. All the samples passed the tests. Details can be found on the AFCD’s website (www.afcd.gov.hk/english/fisheries/Radiological_testing/Radiological_Test.html).
 
     The Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) has also enhanced the environmental monitoring of the local waters. No anomaly has been detected so far. For details, please refer to the HKO’s website
(www.hko.gov.hk/en/radiation/monitoring/seawater.html).
 
     From August 24, 2023, to noon today, the CFS and the AFCD have conducted tests on the radiological levels of 84 401 samples of food imported from Japan (including 54 005 samples of aquatic and related products, seaweeds and sea salt) and 19 354 samples of local catch respectively. All the samples passed the tests. read more