External merchandise trade statistics for February 2015

Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that total merchandise export for February 2015 amounted to MOP686 million, down by 4.0% year-on-year; value of re-exports (MOP557 million) decreased by 5.9%, but that of domestic exports (MOP129 million) increased by 5.4%. Total merchandise import expanded by 12.4% year-on-year to MOP6.62 billion, of which imports of Mobile phones rose by 72.6%. Merchandise trade deficit amounted to MOP5.93 billion. In the first two months of 2015, total value of merchandise export fell slightly by 0.1% year-on-year to MOP1.65 billion, of which value of re-exports (MOP1.33 billion) dropped by 1.7%, but that of domestic exports (MOP315 million) increased by 7.4%. Total value of merchandise import grew by 4.3% to MOP15.14 billion. Merchandise trade deficit widened to MOP13.50 billion for the first two months of 2015. Analysed by destination, merchandise export to Hong Kong (MOP1.03 billion) and Mainland China (MOP227 million) in the first two months of 2015 increased by 1.7% and 6.1% year-on-year, while export to the EU (MOP41 million) and the USA (MOP33 million) decreased by 25.0% and 43.9% respectively. Exports of Non-textiles increased by 1.4% year-on-year to MOP1.52 billion, of which value of Clocks & watches (MOP215 million) and Tobacco (MOP79 million) rose by 20.4% and 157.4% respectively, but that of Machines, apparatus & parts (MOP222 million) dropped by 20.8%. Exports of Textiles & garments totalled MOP122 million, down by 15.2%. By country of origin, merchandise import from Mainland China (MOP5.16 billion) in the first two months of 2015 increased by 10.6% year-on-year, while import from the EU (MOP3.62 billion) fell by 1.0%. Imports of Consumer goods dropped by 5.5% to MOP8.93 billion, with imports of Gold jewellery (MOP1.44 billion) decreasing by 30.9%, but that of Food & beverages (MOP2.14 billion) increasing by 17.9%. Moreover, imports of Mobile phones (MOP2.03 billion) and Construction materials (MOP532 million) grew by 54.3% and 18.0% respectively. External merchandise trade reached MOP16.79 billion in the first two months of 2015, up by 3.8% compared with MOP16.17 billion a year earlier.