HONG KONG, Aug. 25 -- In July 2014, the values of Hong Kong's total exports and imports of goods both showed year-on-year increases, at 6.8 percent and 7.5 percent respectively, the city's Census and Statistics Department announced Monday.

The value of total exports of goods (comprising re-exports and domestic exports) increased by 6.8 percent over a year earlier to 326.2 billion HK dollars (about 42 billion U.S. dollars), after a year-on-year increase of 11.4 percent in June 2014, the department said when releasing the external merchandise trade statistics for July 2014.

Within this total, the value of re-exports increased by 6.8 percent to 321 billion HK dollars in July 2014, while the value of domestic exports increased by 7.0 percent to 5.1 billion HK dollars.

Concurrently, the value of imports of goods increased by 7.5 percent over a year earlier to 368.3 billion HK dollars in July 2014, after a year-on-year increase of 7.6 percent in June 2014. A visible trade deficit of 42.1 billion HK dollars, equivalent to 11. 4 percent of the value of imports of goods, was recorded in July 2014.

For the first seven months of 2014 as a whole, the value of total exports of goods rose by 3.4 percent over the same period in 2013. Within this total, the value of re-exports increased by 3.4 percent, while the value of domestic exports increased by 4.3 percent.

Concurrently, the value of imports of goods increased by 3.9 percent. A visible trade deficit of 304.6 billion HK dollars, equivalent to 13 percent of the value of imports of goods, was recorded in the first seven months of 2014. (1 U.S. dollar = 7.75 HK dollars)