Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that total merchandise export for February 2017 amounted to MOP904 million, up by 27.2% year-on-year; value of domestic exports (MOP122 million) increased by 29.5%, with that of Copper & articles thereof (MOP38 million) rising by 27.4%; meanwhile, value of re-exports (MOP783 million) grew by 26.8%, with that of Diamond & diamond jewellery (MOP118 million) surging by 93.6%. Total merchandise import rose by 9.1% year-on-year to MOP5.18 billion, of which imports of Watches and Gold jewellery expanded by 50.5% and 20.6% respectively. Merchandise trade deficit amounted to MOP4.28 billion.
From January to February 2017, total value of merchandise export increased by 11.2% year-on-year to MOP1.88 billion, of which value of domestic exports(MOP291 million) and re-exports (MOP1.58 billion) rose by 23.6% and 9.2% respectively. Total value of merchandise import grew by 1.6% to MOP11.69 billion. Merchandise trade deficit widened to MOP9.81 billion for the first two months of 2017.
Analysed by destination, merchandise export to Mainland China decreased by 1.8% year-on-year to MOP234 million in the first two months of 2017, of which exports to the nine provinces of the Pan Pearl River Delta (MOP215 million) fell by 5.0%. On the other hand, exports to Hong Kong (MOP1.25 billion), the USA (MOP32 million) and the EU (MOP31 million) rose by 20.2%, 58.7% and 6.5% respectively. Moreover, exports to the Portuguese-speaking Countries (MOP0.2 million) grew by 25.6% year-on-year. Exports of Non-textiles increased by 15.1% year-on-year to MOP1.78 billion, of which value of Diamond & diamond jewellery (MOP264 million) soared by 82.6%, but that of Machines, apparatus & parts (MOP66 million) dropped by 55.0%. Exports of Textiles & garments totalled MOP93 million, down by 32.2%.
By place of origin, merchandise import from Mainland China (MOP3.95 billion) decreased by 7.9% year-on-year in the first two months of 2017, whereas imports from the EU (MOP3.07 billion) increased by 10.0%. Meanwhile, imports from the Portuguese-speaking Countries (MOP103 million) expanded by 12.9%. Analysed by place of consignment, merchandise import from Mainland China declined by 2.7% to MOP1.56 billion, of which imports from the nine provinces of the Pan Pearl River Delta (MOP1.48 billion) fell by 2.3%. Imports of Consumer goods grew by 7.9% to MOP7.85 billion, with imports of Gold jewellery (MOP1.18 billion) and Watches (MOP842 million) rising by 25.2% and 36.7% respectively. However, value of imports of Construction materials(MOP239 million) and Motor cars & motorcycles (MOP187 million) dropped by 29.3% and 14.8% respectively.
External merchandise trade totalled MOP13.56 billion in the first two months of 2017, up by 2.8% compared with MOP13.20 billion a year earlier.