Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that total merchandise export amounted to MOP1.14 billion in May 2022, up by 16.2% year-on-year. Value of re-exports (MOP978 million) grew by 20.3%, of which re-exports of Garments and Diamond & diamond jewellery surged by 234.3% and 97.1% respectively while those of Non-diamond jewellery declined by 61.6%. Value of domestic exports (MOP165 million) dropped by 3.1%, of which domestic exports of Garments decreased by 30.9% while those of Copper & articles thereof rose by 14.7%. Meanwhile, total merchandise import went down by 22.5% year-on-year to MOP12.05 billion; imports of Mobile phones, Beauty, cosmetic & skincare products and Watches fell by 69.9%, 34.2% and 25.0% respectively, whereas imports of Food & beverages and Electronic components expanded by 41.2% and 19.3% respectively. Merchandise trade deficit in May 2022 totalled MOP10.90 billion.

From January to May this year, total value of merchandise export increased by 13.1% year-on-year to MOP6.21 billion, of which value of re-exports (MOP5.31 billion) and domestic exports (MOP901 million) went up by 12.0% and 20.2% respectively. Total value of merchandise import grew by 8.4% year-on-year to MOP63.57 billion. Merchandise trade deficit totalled MOP57.35 billion for the first five months of 2022, up by MOP4.22 billion from MOP53.13 billion a year earlier.

Analysed by destination, merchandise export to Hong Kong (MOP4.83 billion), the USA (MOP275 million) and the EU (MOP94 million) showed respective year-on-year growth of 23.0%, 3.1% and 26.3% from January to May 2022. Meanwhile, exports to mainland China decreased by 26.5% year-on-year to MOP550 million, of which exports to the Nine Provinces of the Pan Pearl River Delta (MOP506 million) fell by 27.0%. Exports to the Belt and Road Countries (MOP181 million) and the Portuguese-speaking Countries (MOP850 thousand) expanded by 35.7% and 103.4% respectively. Exports of Textiles & garments increased by 52.9% year-on-year to MOP839 million, while exports of Non-textiles went up by 8.7% to MOP5.37 billion.

By place of origin, merchandise import from the EU (MOP22.49 billion), the Belt and Road Countries (MOP11.37 billion) and the Portuguese-speaking Countries (MOP372 million) rose by 21.9%, 12.4% and 35.0% respectively year-on-year in the first five months of 2022. On the other hand, imports from mainland China (MOP18.58 billion) dropped by 5.9%. Analysed by place of consignment, merchandise import from Hong Kong (MOP54.96 billion) grew by 10.2% year-on-year. Imports from mainland China rose by 0.3% to MOP6.55 billion, with imports from the Nine Provinces of the Pan Pearl River Delta (MOP6.41 billion) increasing by 0.4%. Imports of Consumer goods grew by 12.8% to MOP46.79 billion, of which imports of Beauty, cosmetic & skincare products (MOP10.32 billion), Food & beverages (MOP7.44 billion) and Handbags & wallets (MOP5.17 billion) expanded by 23.5%, 38.8% and 15.8% respectively. Imports of Fuels & lubricants (MOP2.42 billion) went up by 8.5%, whereas imports of Mobile phones (MOP6.48 billion) and Construction materials (MOP1.21 billion) dipped by 16.1% and 7.5% respectively.

External merchandise trade totalled MOP69.78 billion from January to May 2022, up by 8.8% compared with MOP64.12 billion a year earlier.