Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that total merchandise export amounted to MOP824 million in December 2022, down by 20.0% year-on-year. Value of re-exports (MOP668 million) declined by 21.4%, of which re-exports of Optical instruments, Watches and Diamond & diamond jewellery declined by 94.5%, 50.2% and 37.5% respectively, while those of Wine and Articles for casino jumped by 80.3% and 72.9% respectively. Value of domestic exports (MOP156 million) fell by 13.2%, of which domestic exports of Pharmaceutical products & organic chemicals, Copper & articles and Garments reduced by 28.1%, 18.1% and 14.4% respectively, while those of Bread, pastry, cakes, biscuits & other bakers’ wares grew by 24.6%. Meanwhile, total merchandise import went down by 18.9% year-on-year to MOP11.90 billion; imports of Mobile phones, Gold jewellery and Beauty, cosmetic & skincare products shrank by 53.5%, 40.3% and 28.5% respectively, whereas imports of Electronic components and Food & beverages surged by 134.3% and 21.3% respectively. Merchandise trade deficit in December 2022 totalled MOP11.08 billion.
In the fourth quarter of 2022, total value of merchandise export (MOP3.39 billion) rose by 8.4% year-on-year while that of merchandise import (MOP37.57 billion) fell by 8.1%, resulting in a trade deficit of MOP34.19 billion.
For the whole year of 2022, total value of merchandise export increased by 4.3% year-on-year to MOP13.52 billion, of which value of re-exports (MOP11.50 billion) and domestic exports (MOP2.02 billion) rose by 4.9% and 0.7% respectively. Total value of merchandise import decreased by 9.1% year-on-year to MOP139.81 billion. Merchandise trade deficit totalled MOP126.29 billion in 2022, down by MOP14.62 billion from MOP140.91 billion in 2021.
Analysed by destination, merchandise export to Hong Kong (MOP10.30 billion) grew by 12.5% year-on-year in 2022, whereas exports to the USA (MOP610 million) and the EU (MOP166 million) decreased by 10.5% and 12.1% respectively. Exports to mainland China fell by 27.9% year-on-year to MOP1.31 billion, of which exports to the Nine Provinces of the Pan Pearl River Delta (MOP1.13 billion) shrank by 30.4%. Meanwhile, exports to the Belt and Road Countries (MOP523 million) expanded by 69.8%, while exports to the Portuguese-speaking Countries (MOP2 million) tumbled by 73.4%. Exports of Textiles & garments went up by 10.9% year-on-year to MOP1.73 billion while exports of Non-textiles rose by 3.4% to MOP11.79 billion.
By place of origin, merchandise import from the EU (MOP45.85 billion) and mainland China (MOP42.45 billion) in 2022 decreased by 7.9% and 12.5% respectively year-on-year. In contrast, imports from the Belt and Road Countries (MOP26.21 billion) and the Portuguese-speaking Countries (MOP1.06 billion) increased by 3.5% and 46.9% respectively. Analysed by place of consignment, merchandise import from Hong Kong (MOP117.28 billion) fell by 11.4% year-on-year. Meanwhile, imports from mainland China grew by 6.3% to MOP17.48 billion, with imports from the Nine Provinces of the Pan Pearl River Delta (MOP16.73 billion) rising by 5.4%. Imports of Consumer goods went down by 8.4% to MOP101.71 billion, of which imports of Beauty, cosmetic & skincare products (MOP19.35 billion) and Watches (MOP9.79 billion) dropped by 25.0% and 18.0% respectively; on the other hand, imports of Food & beverages (MOP19.72 billion) rose by 29.2%. Imports of Fuels & lubricants (MOP6.18 billion) went up by 5.0%, whereas imports of Mobile phones (MOP10.90 billion) and Construction materials (MOP2.92 billion) dipped by 39.1% and 1.4% respectively.
External merchandise trade totalled MOP153.33 billion in 2022, down by 8.1% compared with MOP166.84 billion in 2021.