Cargo handled at Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) fell 6.5% in April in the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake.

Cargo at the gateway amounted to 330,000 tonnes last month, down 6.5% from a year earlier.

According to HKIA, the decline of cargo was mainly attributable to the 9.5% drop in exports compared with the same month a year earlier.

Meanwhile, both imports and transhipments decreased by 3% in April, with Taiwan, Japan and the Mainland experiencing double digit year-on-year declines.

Stanley Hui Hon-chung, chief executive officer of Airport Authority Hong Kong, said: "The year-on-year decrease is mainly the result of a higher base from the same period last year.

"The disruption to the logistics and supply chains of many industries caused by the earthquake in Japan in March also played a part in the decrease in tonnage.

"Despite the current slowdown, the industry is cautiously optimistic of the future of air cargo in the later part of the year, which is the usual peak time for air cargo."

Elsewhere, however, the airport experienced growth in flight movements and passenger volumes during April.

Flight movements surged 12.1% from a year earlier to 27,685 while passenger numbers increased 8.5% to 4.5 million.

Hui Hon-chung added that the growth in passenger traffic in April was mainly driven by local resident travel as well as visitor traffic, which registered yearly growth of 13% and 8% respectively.

Over the past year, HKIA has handled 51.8 million passengers and more than 4.1 million tonnes of cargo, representing increases of 10.7% and 12.8% respectively.

Aircraft movements also saw an increase of 13.7%, amounting to 319,320.