The Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) voiced confidence in achieving a 20 percent increase in the city’s exports this year, citing the fast-growing artificial-intelligence sector as one of the key drivers that will maintain the robust momentum.
“The earlier projection of 20 percent growth was actually quite conservative – it could even reach 28 to 29 percent,” HKTDC Chairman Frederick Ma Si-hang said at a news conference on Friday.
Ma added that he does not expect the latest United States tariff adjustments to significantly affect the special administrative region’s export outlook. The US announced that starting Friday, it would impose tariffs of 10 to 12.5 percent on imported goods from 60 economies, citing Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. Affected economies include China, India, Mexico, and the United Kingdom.
HKTDC Executive Director Sophia Chong Suk-fan said electronic products are the main pillar supporting Hong Kong’s exports. “We can see that recently, the sectors of AI, data centers, and related products such as chips and electronic components have spurred both our domestic exports and reexports,” she said.
With the AI industry maintaining strong growth momentum, the council is determined to align more closely with the advancement of new quality productive forces and high-value-added sectors, Chong added.
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The first five months of 2026 saw a 27.6 percent increase in the volume of Hong Kong's total exports of goods compared with the same period last year, according to figures from the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD). Meanwhile, in May alone, the overall export volume rose by 25.8 percent year-on-year, with shipments to Taiwan logging the strongest increase at over 70 percent.
The HKTDC also announced its latest organizational optimizations on Friday, as the statutory body that specializes in promoting the SAR’s trade celebrates its 60th anniversary.
Ma said the organization is working to aid local businesses in capturing opportunities in emerging markets and tapping into new regions such as Central Asia, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.
In order to strengthen its current presence in Africa, the HKTDC also intends to broaden its global network by setting up a new consultant office in Cairo, Egypt. The office is targeting to start operation over the next six to nine months, Ma said.
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Chong said many Hong Kong enterprises have found Egypt’s business environment very attractive, and a few textile firms from home have already established plants and hired employees for production there.
“Also, the logistics center surrounding the Suez Canal is well developed. We hope that by opening a new consultant office, we will be able to better collect information and stay up to date on the various regulations and incentives in place, and allow us to better help Hong Kong enterprises looking to expand their presence there,” she added.
The HKTDC currently operates 51 offices worldwide, covering major markets from the Chinese mainland and across Asia and the Middle East to Europe, the Americas and Africa.
A survey on the business situation of Hong Kong’s small and medium-sized enterprises showed that the current diffusion index on new orders for the import and export trades increased to 46.4 in June, the C&SD said. The outlook for July showed a slight improvement, with the forward-looking index on new orders adding to 47.2, meaning sentiment among SMEs remained cautious.
Contact the writer at gabylin@chinadailyhk.com
