Hong Kong's exports grew a more-than-estimated 27.6 percent in January from a year earlier, the biggest gain in five months, on strong demand from both developing and emerging economies as well as further recovery of the US and EU markets, the government said Thursday in a report.

Overseas shipments rose to HK$284 billion ($36.4 billion) after climbing 13 percent in December, the government said.

The timing of the lunar new year holidays this year, which fell in early February and resulted in some rush shipments in late January, may also have contributed, a government spokesman said.

The city's exports have sustained an uptrend for 15 consecutive months, rebounding strongly from the slump after the 2008 global financial crisis.

However, the government warned that export growth could ease in the coming year as the economic recovery in the US and Europe remains "relatively fragile".

"The vibrant Asian markets should continue to render a solid support to Hong Kong's external trade. Yet we should also stay vigilant to the uncertainties in the external environment, including those arising from the weak fundamentals of the advanced economies and lately the geopolitical tensions around the Middle East," the government spokesman said.

Financial Secretary John Tsang warned Wednesday in his budget speech that this year may be testing for Asian exporters.

"The relatively fragile economic recovery of the US and Europe will make this year a testing time for the export performance of Asia and Hong Kong," Tsang said.

A bulk of the city's exports are bound to the US and Europe markets.

Shipments to the US jumped 28 percent in January from a year earlier, while those to the Chinese mainland, which remains the top trading partner of the city and accounted for 52 percent of Hong Kong's total exports in the month, climbed 29 percent from a year ago, the government report showed.

"We expect the growth trajectory of Hong Kong's exports to stabilize in the coming quarters, even if an increasingly unfavorable base effect means that headline exports growth will start to lose a little steam compared to its impressive rebound last year," Donna Kwok, an economist at HSBC Holdings Plc, said Thursday.

January's number was more than the median 14.4 percent estimate of 10 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Imports rose 19 percent from a year earlier, leaving a trade deficit of HK$16 billion.

China Daily - Bloomberg

(HK Edition 02/25/2011 page3)