Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that total merchandise export amounted to MOP1.03 billion in December 2021, down by 15.0% year-on-year. Value of re-exports (MOP849 million) fell by 18.6%, with that of cosmetic & skincare products and Articles for casino falling by 69.4% and 56.0% respectively. Yet, value of domestic exports (MOP180 million) grew by 7.7%, with that of Pharmaceutical products & organic chemicals rising by 44.4%. Meanwhile, total merchandise import went up by 22.2% year-on-year to MOP14.68 billion; imports of Electronic components, Gold jewellery and Mobile phones surged by 127.2%, 81.3% and 34.9% respectively, whereas imports of Construction materials and Motor cars & motorcycles dropped by 16.3% and 4.2% respectively. Merchandise trade deficit in December 2021 totalled MOP13.65 billion.
In the fourth quarter of 2021, total value of merchandise export (MOP3.12 billion) and merchandise import (MOP40.87 billion) grew by 5.7% and 11.2% respectively year-on-year, resulting in a trade deficit of MOP37.74 billion.
For the whole year of 2021, total value of merchandise export increased by 19.9% year-on-year to MOP12.96 billion, of which value of re-exports (MOP10.96 billion) and domestic exports (MOP2.00 billion) went up by 18.5% and 28.1% respectively. Total value of merchandise import expanded by 66.2% year-on-year to MOP153.88 billion. Merchandise trade deficit totalled MOP140.91 billion in 2021, up by MOP59.17 billion from MOP81.75 billion in 2020.
Analysed by destination, merchandise export to mainland China in 2021 rose by 12.3% year-on-year to MOP1.81 billion, of which exports to the Nine Provinces of the Pan Pearl River Delta (MOP1.63 billion) increased by 8.4%. Exports to Hong Kong (MOP9.16 billion), the USA (MOP681 million) and the EU (MOP188 million) expanded by 22.7%, 22.8% and 6.1% respectively year-on-year. Exports to the Belt and Road Countries (MOP308 million) grew by 1.5%, while exports to the Portuguese-speaking Countries (MOP6 million) declined by 48.2%. Exports of Textiles & garments dropped by 3.6% year-on-year to MOP1.56 billion, while exports of Non-textiles went up by 24.1% to MOP11.40 billion.
By place of origin, merchandise import from the EU (MOP49.80 billion) and mainland China (MOP48.52 billion) in 2021 surged by 74.5% and 75.7% respectively year-on-year. Imports from the Belt and Road Countries (MOP25.31 billion) and the Portuguese-speaking Countries (MOP724 million) expanded by 68.6% and 3.7% respectively. Analysed by place of consignment, merchandise import from Hong Kong (MOP132.42 billion) showed an uplift of 73.4% year-on-year. Imports from mainland China grew by 32.5% to MOP16.45 billion, with imports from the Nine Provinces of the Pan Pearl River Delta (MOP15.87 billion) rising by 30.5%. Imports of Consumer goods rose by 63.5% to MOP111.04 billion, of which imports of Watches (MOP11.94 billion), Handbags & wallets (MOP10.90 billion) and Gold jewellery (MOP9.83 billion) ballooned by 138.2%, 130.0% and 182.9% respectively. Besides, imports of Mobile phones (MOP17.90 billion) shot up by 330.2%. Imports of Fuels & lubricants (MOP5.89 billion) and Construction materials (MOP2.96 billion) registered respective growth of 15.5% and 44.5%.
External merchandise trade totalled MOP166.84 billion in 2021, up by 61.4% compared with MOP103.37 billion in 2020.
