Export and Import catalog objects affecting data

Hi Experts,

I am new to SAP HANA. Could you please clarify my doubts on import export.

I have read in certain blogs that we can export the structure of an object and data and move across environments, for instance from Development to Quality to Production.

But, in practical scenarios, we do not want to copy/migrate data from one system to another, unless used for testing.

Also, while importing the new structure, do we lose the existing data in the system (assuming I have exported only the catalog object)?

Thanks in advance.

Regards,

Priyanka