The year-on-year decline in Hong Kong’s foreign trade extended into January, recording its biggest monthly decline in 70 years; an expert says it’s evidence that “mainland China is slowly decoupling from the world.”
Exports fell 36.7 percent and imports fell 30.2 percent in January from a year earlier, according to the January merchandise trade statistics released by the Hong Kong authorities on Feb. 27. The declines widened by 7.8 percent and 6.7 percent, respectively, from December.
In December 2022, Hong Kong’s exports and imports fell by 28.9 percent and 23.5 percent, respectively, according to the prior report.
The annual decline in exports and imports in 2022 was 8.6 percent and 7.2 percent, respectively….