Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that the value of total merchandise imports and exports continued to decline. The value of total exports of goods amounted to MOP774 million in January 2009, down significantly by 56.1% year-on-year, with the value of domestic exports decreasing by 65.6% to MOP436 million and that of re-exports dropping by 31.7% to MOP338 million. The value of total imports of goods amounted to MOP2.86 billion, down by 23.5% year-on-year.

The trade deficit for January 2009 was MOP2.08 billion and the exports/imports ratio decreased from 47.3% in January 2008 to 27.1%.

According to the destinations of Macao’s exports, the value of merchandise exports to the USA, the EU, Mainland China and Hong Kong decreased by 70.7%, 68.8%, 45.3% and 15.9% respectively year-on-year. As regards exports of principal commodity, the value of Textile & garment exports declined by 67.4% year-on-year to account for 50.1% of the total exports of goods in January 2009; meanwhile, the value of Non-textile exports dropped by 32.8%, with exports of Machines & apparatus, parts & accessories thereof falling by 60.8%, but exports of Jewellery rising by 9.4%.

Regarding the country of origin of imported goods, the value of imports from Mainland China and Hong Kong dropped by 44.5% and 17.4% respectively year-on-year, together amounting to MOP1.13 billion in January 2009. In terms of broad economic categories, the value of imports of all categories registered year-on-year decreases, of which Raw materials & semi-manufactures dropped by 45.1%, Capital goods fell by 27.0% and Consumer goods slid by 15.5%.