HK-China trade data gap widens to US$13.5b

Beijing

THE gap between China's reported exports to Hong Kong and the territory's imports from the mainland widened in September to the most this year, suggesting fake export-invoicing is again skewing China's trade data.

China recorded US$1.56 of exports to Hong Kong last month for every US$1 in imports Hong Kong registered, leading to a US$13.5 billion difference, according to government data compiled by Bloomberg.

Hong Kong's imports from China climbed 5.5 per cent from a year earlier to US$24.1 billion, figures showed on Monday; China's exports to Hong…