Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that total merchandise export amounted to MOP858 million in April 2023, down by 28.1% year-on-year. Value of re-exports (MOP731 million) dropped by 24.0%, of which re-exports of Diamond & diamond jewellery and Watches declined by 51.6% and 45.9% respectively, while those of Articles for casino and Machines, apparatus & parts surged by 146.1% and 29.9% respectively. Value of domestic exports (MOP126 million) shrank by 45.3%, with domestic exports of Garments and Pharmaceutical products & organic chemicals falling by 74.8% and 58.7% respectively. Meanwhile, total merchandise import went down by 11.3% year-on-year to MOP11.66 billion; imports of Mobile phones and Beauty, cosmetic & skincare products reduced by 74.2% and 54.4% respectively, whereas imports of Articles for casino and Gold jewellery showed respective growth of 178.6% and 64.1%. Merchandise trade deficit totalled MOP10.81 billion in April.
From January to April this year, total value of merchandise export dropped by 20.9% year-on-year to MOP4.01 billion, of which value of re-exports (MOP3.57 billion) and domestic exports (MOP436 million) fell by 17.5% and 40.7% respectively. Total value of merchandise import decreased by 7.8% year-on-year to MOP47.30 billion. Merchandise trade deficit totalled MOP43.29 billion in the first four months, down by MOP2.96 billion from MOP46.25 billion a year earlier.
Analysed by destination, merchandise export to mainland China (MOP265 million), Hong Kong (MOP3.09 billion), the USA (MOP99 million) and the EU (MOP36 million) decreased by 40.2%, 21.5%, 55.5% and 54.3% respectively year-on-year in the first four months of 2023. Meanwhile, exports to the Belt and Road Countries (MOP151 million) expanded by 4.3%, while exports to the Portuguese-speaking Countries (MOP107 thousand) slid by 86.7%. Exports of Textiles & garments went down by 39.7% year-on-year to MOP407 million, and exports of Non-textiles dipped by 18.0% to MOP3.60 billion.
By place of origin, merchandise import from the EU (MOP16.20 billion) and mainland China (MOP12.58 billion) reduced by 12.2% and 15.8% respectively year-on-year in the first four months, while those from the Belt and Road Countries (MOP10.98 billion) and the Portuguese-speaking Countries (MOP509 million) rose by 18.4% and 78.6% respectively. Analysed by place of consignment, merchandise import from Hong Kong (MOP39.20 billion) dropped by 12.0% year-on-year, whereas imports from mainland China (MOP6.08 billion) increased by 19.8%. Imports of Consumer goods went down by 3.5% to MOP36.35 billion, of which imports of Beauty, cosmetic & skincare products (MOP4.56 billion) and Watches (MOP3.32 billion) shrank by 46.3% and 11.3% respectively; on the other hand, imports of Food & beverages (MOP8.04 billion) and Gold jewellery (MOP4.67 billion) expanded by 38.9% and 30.8% respectively. Imports of Fuels & lubricants (MOP2.02 billion) went up by 8.4%, whereas imports of Mobile phones (MOP2.05 billion) and Construction materials (MOP944 million) dipped by 62.9% and 2.3% respectively.
External merchandise trade totalled MOP51.31 billion from January to April 2023, down by 9.0% compared with MOP56.38 billion a year earlier.
