Hong Kong's economy demonstrates strong growth momentum

Hong Kong's economy is gaining fresh momentum, with exporters exhibiting their strongest confidence level in over a year and private sector activity showing the first signs of improvement in seven months amid global uncertainties, experts said.

They remain cautiously optimistic and are betting on further impetus from the city's deeper economic ties with other markets in the region.

On Thursday, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council revealed an uptick in confidence among exporters in the third quarter of 2025, with indicators of current performance and export expectations both reaching their highest marks since January last year.

The current index for business performance rose to 53.3 from 49.6 in the previous quarter, while the outlook index for the upcoming quarter leaped to 54.3 from 49, according to the HKTDC's Export Confidence Index survey report. Both indexes remain above the 50-point optimism threshold.

The survey also shows that about 36 percent of the respondents expect higher profit margins this year, while 28 percent anticipate steady margins of profit.

According to data released by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government's Census and Statistics Department, the SAR's exports recorded a year-on-year growth of 12.7 percent in terms of value in the first seven months of this year.

Business conditions in the city's private sector have also notably improved. The headline seasonally adjusted S&P Global Hong Kong SAR Purchasing Manager's Index rose to 50.7 in August — the highest since the beginning of the year.

Companies have increased their output for the first time in five months, particularly in the domestic market, according to S&P Global.

Usamah Bhatti, an economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said that with the total amount of new orders broadly stabilized, companies are feeling encouraged to raise employment levels for the first time in three months.

Jonathan Choi Koon-shum, chairman of Hong Kong's Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, said the improvement reflects new opportunities created through deeper regional cooperation.

"In recent years, local enterprises have been actively setting up production bases in regions such as Southeast Asia and the Middle East to drive industrial upgrading and transformation, while expanding into diversified areas including innovation and technology," he said.

Irina Fan Yuen-yee, director of research at HKTDC, reminded that the possibility of future tariff hikes and further supply chain risks within the already fragmented global trading arena remains very real.

The HKTDC's survey report said the improvement is "mainly on account of traders' front-loading activities" amid uncertainties over the trade policies of the United States, adding that the benefits may become moderate in the following months.

Contact the writers at gabylin@chinadailyhk.com