The values of Hong Kong's total exports and imports of goods fell by 8.6 percent and 10.5 percent respectively in January 2012, the city's Census and Statistics Department announced Thursday.

The department released Thursday the external merchandise trade statistics for January 2012. The value of total exports of goods (comprising re-exports and domestic exports) decreased to 259.3 billion HK dollars (about 33.43 billion U.S. dollars), after a year-on-year increase of 7.4 percent in December 2011.

Concurrently, the value of imports of goods decreased to 268.2 billion HK dollars in January 2012, after a year-on-year increase of 8.1 percent in December 2011.

A visible trade deficit of 8.9 billion HK dollars, equivalent to 3.3 percent of the value of imports of goods, was recorded in January 2012.

A spokesman for the government commented that looking ahead, Hong Kong's export outlook remains bleak in the near term, as the evolving eurozone debt crisis continues to plague the global economic outlook and weigh on the import demand there as well as Asia's production activities. (1 U.S. dollar = 7.756 U.S. dollars)