The freight quote on Mr. Chan's counter at his Cheung Sha Wan unit is HK$3,400 per pallet to Rotterdam. In February it was HK$2,900. Commerce Secretary Algernon Yau said Wednesday the export picture showed cautious hope; he cited early steadying of US-bound volumes after the tariff round; the statement ran to three paragraphs and contained no number that a shipper could use. Chan's Q3 order book runs to fourteen pallets. He has not confirmed four. The margin does not hold at HK$3,400.

The HKTDC Export Index for April came in at 42.6, below the 50-point expansion line for the fifth consecutive month, down less steeply than March but still contracting. Yau's Commerce and Economic Development Bureau has a follow-up SME logistics briefing on July 8 to address the freight-support programme announced in the February Budget. Chan has the date. The HK$3,400 is the number he is working with until then.