The Quasi-official Trade Development Council (TDC) also said in its latest report that Hong Kong companies should be aware of the undercurrent of regionalism and restrictive trade measures triggered by the crisis.

The report said a strong US dollar, falling prices of raw materials and components as well as stronger competition has led to a decline in export prices.

As a result, the unit value of both re-exports and domestic exports fell by 2.8 per cent in the first half of the year. Taking this into consideration, the volume of Hong Kong's exports in that period was roughly unchanged from a year earlier.

However, the report noted that merchandise exports, including off-shore trade, managed by Hong Kong traders and manufacturers held steady despite thedevaluation of other Asian currencies.

Caused largely by a slump in tourism, Hong Kong's exports of services fell by 13.3 per cent in the first quarter of this year, after an increase of just 0.2 per cent for the whole year last year.