The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) released Hong Kong’s external merchandise trade statistics for August 2026 on 24 September. Its figures for gold, which C&SD records separately from merchandise trade, show the flow between Hong Kong and mainland China in both directions:
| Tonnes | July 2026 | August 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Hong Kong exports of gold to mainland China | 75.457 | 77.137 |
| Gold consigned from mainland China into Hong Kong (exports less net) | 19.264 | 18.646 |
| Net flow to mainland China | 56.193 | 58.491 |
C&SD compiles these figures from the declarations that importers and exporters lodge with the Customs and Excise Department under the Import and Export (Registration) Regulations (Cap. 60E), checked against carriers’ cargo manifests, according to the explanatory notes to C&SD’s Hong Kong External Merchandise Trade report. The same notes state that Hong Kong is a separate customs territory under the Basic Law, so gold moving between Hong Kong and mainland China requires a Hong Kong import or export declaration like any other shipment. Gold consigned through Hong Kong on a through bill of lading or through air waybill, from a refinery abroad to a mainland consignee, is transhipment and falls outside the 77.137 tonnes, which count metal declared into Hong Kong and declared out again, including bars released from vaults in Hong Kong.
C&SD records an export as a domestic export when a manufacturing process in Hong Kong has permanently and substantially changed the shape, nature, form or utility of the goods, and as a re-export when it has not. A kilobar released from a Hong Kong vault to a mainland consignee in the form in which it arrived is a re-export and leaves under its original refiner mark and serial number; under the same definition, a 400 oz bar recast into kilobars in Hong Kong leaves as a domestic export, under the mark and serial numbers stamped by the refiner that recast it. C&SD records both directions by country of consignment, which it defines as the place goods are consigned from or to without a further intermediate commercial transaction and which need not be the country of origin, so the 18.646 tonnes consigned from mainland China identify the place the metal was shipped from, and the series names no refiner.
C&SD’s August figures include declarations lodged up to 14 September for shipments made in August and earlier months, so the 1.680-tonne rise in exports to mainland China includes late declarations for shipments made before August. Clearance of the metal into mainland China sits with China Customs, whose own statistics also cover gold that enters the mainland without passing through Hong Kong.