Manufacturing prices, sea cargo and restaurant receipts all fell in the third quarter, further underlining the disastrous performance of the Hong Kong economy. The figures came a day after the Government announced that the economy contracted 7.1 per cent in the July-September quarter compared with the same period last year. Provisional figures released yesterday showed manufacturing prices fell 2 per cent in the period from a year earlier and 0.7 per cent compared with the second quarter. Machinery, equipment and components suffered the biggest drop, with prices down 7.8 per cent year on year. Also falling more than the average were paper products and printing - down 2.9 per cent. In contrast, producer prices for apparel, excluding footwear, and fabricated metal products rose by 0.8 per cent, while plastic products rose 1 per cent. Total tonnage of seaborne cargo dropped 7 per cent to 22 million tonnes in the third quarter, with imports down 5 per cent at 18.3 million tonnes. Inward transshipment cargo fell 12 per cent to 3.6 million tonnes, reflecting to some extent the slowing of export traffic from the mainland. The number of incoming vessels to Hong Kong fell 4 per cent to 10,132, carrying a total of 52.1 million net registered tons (NRT), a rise of 3 per cent. NRTs are the unit measure of space available for carrying goods or passengers. The number of outgoing vessels fell 3 per cent to 10,188 with a total of 52.2 million NRTs. Restaurant receipts fell 4 per cent year on year to an estimated $14.2 billion. The value of total purchases by restaurants decreased by 8 per cent to $4.9 billion. The recession has been even harder on Chinese restaurants, whose receipts dropped 10 per cent in both value and volume, while bar receipts fell 4 per cent in value and 6 per cent in volume. Fast-food outlets have benefited from consumers' budgeting, with receipts up 3 per cent in value and 1 per cent in volume. But the biggest rise was in miscellaneous eating, which enjoyed a 15 per cent jump in value of receipts and 12 per cent rise in volume. Total receipts for the first nine months of the year have fallen 4 per cent in value and 7 per cent in volume.
