Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that total merchandise export for March 2019 amounted to MOP1.19 billion, up by 15.5% year-on-year. Value of re-exports (MOP1.07 billion) increased by 22.2%, with that of Beauty, cosmetic & skin-care products and Optical instruments surging by 360.9% and 178.4% respectively. Meanwhile, value of domestic exports (MOP115 million) dropped by 23.9%, with that of Copper & articles thereof falling by 35.2%. Total merchandise import fell by 3.3% year-on-year to MOP7.24 billion, of which imports of Construction materials, Mobile phones and Food & beverages declined by 47.0%, 18.0% and 15.0% respectively, whereas imports of Beauty, cosmetic & skin-care products and Garments & footwear expanded by 31.0% and 19.4% respectively. Merchandise trade deficit in March totalled MOP6.05 billion.
From January to March 2019, total value of merchandise export increased by 22.5% year-on-year to MOP3.64 billion, of which value of re-exports (MOP3.31 billion) grew by 28.5%, but that of domestic exports (MOP331 million) declined by 16.5%. Total value of merchandise import dropped by 2.4% year-on-year to MOP21.78 billion. Merchandise trade deficit widened to MOP18.14 billion for the first quarter of 2019.
Analysed by destination, merchandise export to Mainland China decreased by 12.2% year-on-year to MOP415 million from January to March 2019, of which exports to the Nine Provinces of the Pan Pearl River Delta (MOP399 million) declined by 13.6%. Exports to the EU (MOP39 million) fell by 3.0% year-on-year, whereas exports to Hong Kong (MOP2.58 billion) and the USA (MOP52 million) expanded by 34.2% and 62.9% respectively. Meanwhile, exports to the Portuguese-speaking Countries (MOP0.26 million) soared by 257.1% year-on-year, while exports to the Belt & Road Countries outside of Greater China (MOP44 million) dropped by 17.5%. Exports of Non-textiles went up by 22.0% year-on-year to MOP3.40 billion, of which value of Beauty, cosmetic & skin-care products (MOP161 million) surged by 406.9%, but that of Milk powder (MOP46 million) fell by 76.7%. Exports of Textiles & garments totalled MOP239 million, up by 29.8%.
By place of origin, merchandise import from Mainland China (MOP7.38 billion) decreased by 3.3% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2019. Imports from the EU (MOP5.91 billion) increased by 1.2%, and imports from the Portuguese-speaking Countries (MOP230 million) and the Belt & Road Countries outside of Greater China (MOP2.78 billion) rose by 14.8% and 45.2% respectively. Analysed by place of consignment, merchandise import from Mainland China grew by 5.9% year-on-year to MOP3.18 billion, of which imports from the Nine Provinces of the Pan Pearl River Delta (MOP3.09 billion) expanded by 6.4%. Imports of Consumer goods went up by 6.5% to MOP15.30 billion, with imports of Garments & footwear (MOP2.33 billion) and Beauty, cosmetic & skin-care products (MOP1.52 billion) rising by 29.8% and 32.3% respectively; in addition, imports of Fuels & lubricants (MOP1.58 billion) grew by 1.0%, whereas imports of Mobile phones (MOP1.61 billion) and Construction materials (MOP334 million) dropped by 25.9% and 43.9% respectively.
External merchandise trade totalled MOP25.42 billion from January to March 2019, up by 0.5% compared with MOP25.30 billion a year earlier.