H.K.-Japan trade grows healthily, reached $52 billion in 2007

Asian Economic News, March 9, 2008

HONG KONG, March 6 Kyodo

Bilateral trade between Hong Kong and Japan has been growing ''healthily'' in recent years and reached more than US$52 billion last year, the Hong Kong government said Thursday.

''Between 2003 and 2007, average annual bilateral trade between our two economies grew by 7.2 percent,'' Jennie Chok, principal representative of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Tokyo, was quoted in a government statement as having told a business seminar in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, earlier in the day.

Of last year's more than $52 billion in two-way trade, Japanese exports to Hong Kong accounted for 70 percent, she said.

Japan is Hong Kong's third largest trading partner after mainland China and the United States, and its second largest trading partner in Asia, while Hong Kong is Japan's ninth largest trading partner.

Of some 3,900 international companies that maintain regional headquarters or regional offices in Hong Kong, around 750 were established by Japanese enterprises whose businesses cover electronics, banking, transportation and retail services, Chok said.

The territory's trade representative called on Japanese companies, especially small and medium enterprises, to use Hong Kong as a base to tap into the huge potential of the China market.