China Watch Blog

In the first quarter this year, 32% of Hong Kong’s total exports to the Mainland were for outward processing, while the proportion was 19% for domestic exports and 32% for re-exports.

The Census & Statistics Department said 52% of Hong Kong’s imports from the Mainland were related to outward processing.

Over the same period, 73% of re-exports of Mainland origin to other places were produced through outward processing on the Mainland.

The corresponding proportions for exports to the Mainland in the first quarter last year were 33% for total exports, 31% for domestic exports and 33% for re-exports, while proportions for imports from the Mainland and for re-exports of Mainland origin to other places were 51% and 72%.

In value terms, $106 billion of Hong Kong’s total exports to the Mainland in the first quarter were for outward processing, representing a 35% year-on-year increase. The value of domestic exports to the Mainland for outward processing dropped 18% to $1.4 billion while the value of re-exports to the Mainland for outward processing rose 37% to $104.6 billion.

Over the same period of comparison, the value of imports from the Mainland related to outward processing rose 28% to $165.5 billion. On the other hand, $166.4 billion of the city’s re-exports of Mainland origin to other places were produced through outward processing on the Mainland, up 11%.

China Watch Blog came across this Xinhua report which quoted a survey conducted by China’s top quality watchdog as saying that technical trade barriers from overseas cost Chinese exporters US$57 billion last year, which is US$6.9 billion more than the year before.

The survey, conducted by China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine, was based upon findings from a total of 2,616 Chinese exporters, with one third of them reporting being affected by various barriers.

Trade barriers for producer goods mainly involved certification, technical requirements, caps on harmful substances contained in products, tagging and packaging, while those for farm produce mainly involved residue of pesticides and heavy metals, food additives and sanitation requirements.

The survey further indicated that the top five industries affected most were machinery and electronics, toys and furniture, wood and paper, agricultural produce and foods, and metals.

The eastern Shandong Province, southern Guangdong Province, central Henan Province, and eastern Jiangsu and Anhui provinces were the top five provinces most harmed by these trade barriers, according to the survey.

Perhaps China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine could work with all the provincial universities and  educational institutions to regularly come up with similar figures on a regular basis, and the results would be more widely representative of the whole country’s situation. Unlike the present survey which might be put together with certain emphasis in mind.