Mainland's imports from HK rise sharply in first half

BEIJING - The Chinese mainland's imports from Hong Kong reached $9.99 billion in the first half (H1) of 2016, up 130 percent year on year, the Ministry of Commerce said on Wednesday.

The mainland's exports to Hong Kong hit $132.7 billion, a decrease of 4.8 percent year on year, ministry figures show.

Trade between the mainland and Hong Kong totaled $142.69 billion in the first six months, down 0.7 percent year on year. The figure accounted for 8.3 percent of the mainland's total overseas trade in H1.

The mainland approved 6,333 Hong Kong-invested projects from January to June in 2016, with the actual use of Hong Kong capital reaching $42.55 billion, up 8.8 percent from the same period of last year.

As of the end of June, 392,546 Hong Kong-invested projects had been approved by mainland authorities and the actual use of Hong Kong capital had totaled $875.87 billion.

The mainland's non-financial outbound direct investment in Hong Kong hit $45.57 billion in the January-June period.