Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that total merchandise export for April 2019 amounted to MOP952 million, down by 12.9% year-on-year. Value of re-exports (MOP845 million) decreased by 11.4%, with that of Diamond & diamond jewellery falling by 56.6%. Value of domestic exports (MOP106 million) dropped by 22.7%, with that of Tobacco decreasing by 38.5%. Total merchandise import rose by 4.7% year-on-year to MOP6.96 billion, of which imports of Beauty, cosmetic & skin-care products, Garments & footwear and Food & beverages expanded by 46.2%, 21.2% and 14.0% respectively; meanwhile, imports of Mobile phones, Construction materials and Gold jewellery declined by 37.3%, 31.6% and 13.3% respectively. Merchandise trade deficit in April totalled MOP6.01 billion.

From January to April 2019, total value of merchandise export increased by 12.9% year-on-year to MOP4.59 billion, of which value of re-exports (MOP4.15 billion) grew by 17.6% but that of domestic exports (MOP437 million) declined by 18.1%. Total value of merchandise import fell by 1.1% year-on-year to MOP28.66 billion. Merchandise trade deficit widened to MOP24.07 billion for the first four months of 2019.

Analysed by destination, merchandise export to Mainland China decreased by 20.0% year-on-year to MOP536 million from January to April 2019, of which exports to the Nine Provinces of the Pan Pearl River Delta (MOP517 million) declined by 20.7%. Exports to the EU (MOP53 million) fell by 0.8% year-on-year, whereas exports to Hong Kong (MOP3.19 billion) and the USA (MOP62 million) expanded by 25.3% and 41.7% respectively. Meanwhile, exports to the Portuguese-speaking Countries (MOP0.26 million) and the Belt and Road Countries (MOP48 million) dropped by 51.2% and 59.5% respectively. Exports of Non-textiles went up by 11.9% year-on-year to MOP4.28 billion, of which value of Beauty, cosmetic & skin-care products (MOP214 million) surged by 446.8%, but that of Milk powder (MOP74 million) fell by 72.5%. Exports of Textiles & garments totalled MOP314 million, up by 30.2%.

By place of origin, merchandise import from Mainland China (MOP9.69 billion) decreased by 3.4% year-on-year in the first four months of 2019. On the other hand, imports from the EU (MOP7.71 billion), the Portuguese-speaking Countries (MOP298 million) and the Belt and Road Countries (MOP3.51 billion) increased by 2.7%, 16.4% and 56.2% respectively. Analysed by place of consignment, merchandise import from Mainland China grew by 7.1% year-on-year to MOP4.35 billion, of which imports from the Nine Provinces of the Pan Pearl River Delta (MOP4.22 billion) expanded by 8.2%. Imports of Consumer goods went up by 7.2% to MOP20.01 billion, with imports of Garments & footwear (MOP2.96 billion) and Beauty, cosmetic & skin-care products (MOP2.07 billion) rising by 27.8% and 35.7% respectively; in addition, imports of Fuels & lubricants (MOP2.16 billion) grew by 2.8%, whereas imports of Mobile phones (MOP1.96 billion) and Construction materials (MOP473 million) dropped by 28.2% and 40.8% respectively.

External merchandise trade totalled MOP33.25 billion from January to April 2019, up by 0.7% compared with MOP33.03 billion a year earlier.