Latest details on Hong Kong's clothing re-exports show prices are continuing to rise with the US paying more per item than in previous months and also above the world average.
Following a month-on-month upward trend, the average world price per piece in July stood at $6.45.
This was up over $2 per piece from the previous month's $5.69 per piece.
Prices in the US, the largest buyer of this product range, shot up from a low of $5.83 in May to $9.16 per piece in July.
The rise in prices may be partly due to the seasonal change in content of containers, as more winter products were shipped to the US in the past two months.
As for the UK and Germany, second and third respectively behind the US, prices rose only modestly. The UK has paid less than the world average in the last two months.
The cost of items sold to Australia fell slightly to $4.59 per piece whereas Panama paid only $1.51 on average in July.
July saw yet another increase of world shipments in volume terms.
Re-exports of clothing from Hong Kong increased by just under 17 percent compared to July last year.
The increase, however, was down in comparison to previous months and seems to be weakening.
The US took in an increase of 24.2 percent in volume terms but this is also well down from previous months.
The US share of the market has thus shrunk from around 30 percent in May and June to 22 percent in July.
The volume share for the UK remained steady at around 13 percent whilst Germany increased to over 9 percent.
The UK had taken in over 55 percent more produce in this range than for July last year and Germany also increased demand by 85 percent.
Japan, after having increased orders slightly in May, took in 22 percent less orders in July with 6 percent of total Hong Kong shipments heading to its Far Eastern neighbour.
The European markets increasing orders of re-exported produce is helping to balance out the weakness of Hong Kong's domestic exports that have been falling to these countries.
A government spokesman said that the near-term outlook for exports remains fairly positive, as economic growth in the US and the Mainland is still relatively robust.
"However, oil prices are still rising. This could have an impact on Hong Kong's exports in the near future," he said.
