The value of Hong Kong's goods exports in July fell 19.9 percent year on year, and imports fell 17.8 percent, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government said Tuesday.

A spokesman for the Census and Statistics Department said the year-on-year decline in exports widened in July after several months of relative improvement. Hong Kong's exports fell 5.4 percent year on year in June, and imports fell 7.9 percent.

"The weak performance was part of a region-wide phenomenon, as import demand in the advanced economies was still subdued. In fact, many other Asian economies continued to record larger declines in exports than Hong Kong," the spokesman said.

The sluggish performance, partly reflecting the high base of comparison a year ago, suggested that "the recovery path would be rather uneven given that demand in overseas markets has yet to show visible improvement in the near term," he added.

For the first seven months, total exports of goods dropped by 17.7 percent over the same period last year, the Census and Statistics Department said.

Exports in the three month period ending in July, however, rose by 8 percent when compared with the preceding three months on a seasonally adjusted basis.

Exports to Asia in July went down 14.7 percent year on year, with a decrease of 32.4 percent for Malaysia, 25.8 percent for Thailand, 25.3 percent for Singapore, 17.9 percent for South Korea, and 15.3 percent for the Chinese mainland.

Sharp year-on-year declines were also registered for some other major destinations, including 30.7 percent for the United Kingdom, 29.8 percent for Germany, 29.4 percent for the United States and 26.5 percent for Australia.