Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that total merchandise import expanded by 16.0% year-on-year to MOP8.61 billion in August 2020, of which imports of Beauty, cosmetic & skincare products, Perfumes and Mobile phones surged by 383.2%, 152.9% and 83.3% respectively, but those of Gold jewellery and Watches fell by 72.0% and 34.5% respectively. Total merchandise export amounted to MOP879 million, down by 5.3% year-on-year. Value of domestic exports (MOP113 million) dropped by 13.9%, with that of Tobacco falling by 83.2%. Meanwhile, value of re-exports (MOP767 million) went down by 3.8%, with that of Beauty, cosmetic & skincare products decreasing by 66.6%. Merchandise trade deficit in August totalled MOP7.73 billion.
From January to August this year, total value of merchandise export decreased by 17.2% year-on-year to MOP6.93 billion, of which value of re-exports (MOP5.96 billion) dropped by 19.9% but that of domestic exports (MOP965 million) grew by 3.9%. Total value of merchandise import declined by 19.6% year-on-year to MOP45.35 billion. Merchandise trade deficit totalled MOP38.42 billion for the first eight months of 2020, down by MOP9.64 billion from MOP48.06 billion a year earlier.
Analysed by destination, merchandise export to Hong Kong (MOP4.74 billion) and the EU (MOP121 million) from January to August 2020 declined by 12.9% and 9.4% respectively year-on-year. Exports to the Nine Provinces of the Pan Pearl River Delta (MOP1.01 billion) fell by 1.0% but exports to Beijing (MOP39 million) leapt by 162.1%, which led to a 2.9% increase in exports to mainland China (MOP1.09 billion). Meanwhile, exports to the USA (MOP340 million) jumped by 141.3% year-on-year. Exports to the Belt and Road Countries (MOP196 million) increased by 35.2% and exports to the Portuguese-speaking Countries (MOP9 million) rocketed by 782.1%. Exports of Textiles & garments grew by 66.7% year-on-year to MOP1.08 billion, while exports of Non-textiles went down by 24.3% to MOP5.85 billion.
By place of origin, merchandise import from mainland China (MOP15.34 billion) and the EU (MOP12.11 billion) decreased by 18.7% and 21.9% respectively year-on-year in the first eight months of 2020. Besides, imports from the Belt and Road Countries (MOP7.89 billion) and the Portuguese-speaking Countries (MOP457 million) reduced by 15.8% and 20.8% respectively. Analysed by place of consignment, merchandise import from mainland China slid by 15.0% year-on-year to MOP7.87 billion, of which imports from the Nine Provinces of the Pan Pearl River Delta (MOP7.74 billion) fell by 13.9%. Imports of Consumer goods went down by 22.3% to MOP30.58 billion, with imports of Watches (MOP2.02 billion) and Gold jewellery (MOP1.31 billion) falling by 53.3% and 66.2% respectively; meanwhile, imports of Beauty, cosmetic & skincare products (MOP6.45 billion) expanded by 61.3%. Imports of Fuels & lubricants (MOP3.54 billion) and Mobile phones (MOP1.70 billion) declined by 26.5% and 37.9% respectively, whereas imports of Construction materials (MOP1.16 billion) rose by 18.4%.
External merchandise trade totalled MOP52.28 billion from January to August 2020, down by 19.3% compared with MOP64.81 billion a year earlier.
