Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that total merchandise export amounted to MOP1.43 billion in March 2022, up by 10.6% year-on-year. Value of re-exports (MOP1.27 billion) grew by 12.4%, with that of Beauty, cosmetic & skincare products and Non-diamond jewellery surging by 130.8% and 127.2% respectively. Value of domestic exports (MOP163 million) dropped by 1.6%, with that of Bread, pastry, cakes, biscuits & other bakers’ wares declining by 47.5%. Meanwhile, total merchandise import went up by 22.3% year-on-year to MOP13.88 billion; imports of Beauty, cosmetic & skincare products and Food & beverages expanded by 49.2% and 41.4% respectively, whereas imports of Articles for casino and Perfumes fell by 32.5% and 24.4% respectively. Merchandise trade deficit in March 2022 totalled MOP12.45 billion.
In the first quarter of 2022, total value of merchandise export increased by 12.3% year-on-year to MOP3.88 billion, of which value of re-exports (MOP3.37 billion) and domestic exports (MOP504 million) went up by 11.4% and 18.5% respectively. Total value of merchandise import expanded by 30.5% year-on-year to MOP38.48 billion. Merchandise trade deficit totalled MOP34.60 billion for the first quarter of 2022, up by MOP8.57 billion from MOP26.03 billion a year earlier.
Analysed by destination, merchandise export to Hong Kong (MOP3.10 billion), the USA (MOP147 million) and the EU (MOP52 million) showed respective year-on-year growth of 20.7%, 13.4% and 9.2% in the first quarter. Meanwhile, exports to mainland China fell by 35.0% year-on-year to MOP281 million, of which exports to the Nine Provinces of the Pan Pearl River Delta (MOP248 million) decreased by 36.7%. Exports to the Belt and Road Countries (MOP99 million) and the Portuguese-speaking Countries (MOP325 thousand) expanded by 14.6% and 11.6% respectively. Exports of Textiles & garments increased by 40.2% year-on-year to MOP455 million, while exports of Non-textiles went up by 9.4% to MOP3.42 billion.
By place of origin, merchandise import from the EU (MOP14.36 billion) and mainland China (MOP11.01 billion) rose by 49.4% and 10.1% respectively year-on-year in the first quarter. Imports from the Belt and Road Countries (MOP7.13 billion) and the Portuguese-speaking Countries (MOP213 million) increased by 24.0% and 31.0% respectively. Analysed by place of consignment, merchandise import from Hong Kong (MOP33.54 billion) expanded by 37.9% year-on-year. On the other hand, imports from mainland China dropped by 5.6% to MOP3.72 billion, with imports from the Nine Provinces of the Pan Pearl River Delta (MOP3.67 billion) decreasing by 4.8%. Imports of Consumer goods grew by 34.0% to MOP28.55 billion, of which imports of Beauty, cosmetic & skincare products (MOP6.22 billion), Food & beverages (MOP4.10 billion) and Gold jewellery (MOP2.98 billion) recorded an uplift of 101.0%, 29.9% and 56.6% respectively. Imports of Mobile phones (MOP4.06 billion) and Fuels & lubricants (MOP1.42 billion) went up by 25.8% and 17.0% respectively, whereas imports of Construction materials (MOP625 million) dipped by 6.9%.
External merchandise trade totalled MOP42.36 billion in the first quarter of 2022, up by 28.6% compared with MOP32.94 billion a year earlier.