Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that total merchandise export for July 2011 amounted to MOP585 million, down by 4.6% year-on-year, with exports of Textile & garment declining by 31.3%; value of domestic exports (MOP212 million) decreased by 16.0%, but that of re-exports (MOP373 million) increased by 3.4%. Increase in total merchandise import continued and rose by 46.3% year-on-year to MOP5.54 billion, of which imports of Buses registered a 25-fold increase to MOP106 million. Merchandise trade deficit amounted to MOP4.96 billion in July 2011. In the first seven months of 2011, total value of merchandise export decreased by 6.1% year-on-year to MOP3.99 billion, of which value of re-exports declined by 8.7%; meanwhile, total value of merchandise import increased by 38.3% to MOP33.38 billion. Merchandise trade deficit for the first seven months of 2011 widened by 47.8% year-on-year to MOP29.39 billion; the exports/imports ratio dropped by 5.7 percentage points year-on-year to 11.9%. Merchandise export to Hong Kong (MOP1.69 billion), Mainland China (MOP673 million) and the USA (MOP349 million) in the first seven months of 2011 decreased by 8.8%, 0.8% and 30.2% respectively year-on-year. Exports of Textile & garment declined by 13.2% to MOP842 million; meanwhile, exports of Jewellery (MOP204 million) and Clocks & watches (MOP159 million) decreased by 63.9% and 38.2% respectively, but that of Tobacco & wine (MOP360 million) grew by 71.1%. In the first seven months of 2011, merchandise import from Mainland China (MOP10.26 billion) and the EU (MOP8.34 billion) expanded by 36.5% and 58.8% respectively year-on-year. Imports of Consumer goods rose by 40.2% to MOP20.08 billion, with imports of Food & beverages (MOP4.73 billion), Gold jewellery (MOP3.17 billion) and Handbags & wallets (MOP1.71 billion) increasing by 34.1%, 79.0% and 118.5% respectively. Moreover, imports of Capital goods (MOP6.19 billion) registered year-on-year increase of 74.4%. In the first seven months of 2011, total value of external merchandise trade amounted to MOP37.37 billion, up by 31.7% compared with MOP28.38 billion a year earlier.
