Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the value of total merchandise export for April 2011 amounted to MOP590 million, down by 14.4% year-on-year, of which value of re-exports (MOP409 million) and domestic exports (MOP181 million) decreased by 18.6% and 3.4% respectively. Value of exports of Knitted or crocheted garment dropped by 23.5% year-on-year, while that of Tobacco & wine increased by 40.6%. Value of total merchandise import amounted to MOP4.36 billion in April 2011, up by 25.2% year-on-year. Value of imports of Capital goods surged by 75.7%, of which imports of Mobile phones soared continuously by 84.7%. Merchandise trade deficit amounted to MOP3.77 billion in April 2011. In the first four months of 2011, total value of merchandise export decreased by 11.8% year-on-year to MOP2.22 billion, of which value of re-exports and domestic exports declined by 16.6% and 0.4% respectively; meanwhile, total value of merchandise import rose by 31.8% to MOP17.55 billion. Merchandise trade deficit for the first four months of 2011 widened by 42.0% to MOP15.33 billion; the exports/imports ratio dropped by 6.3 percentage points year-on-year to 12.6%. Value of merchandise export to Hong Kong (MOP964 million), Mainland China (MOP368 million) and the USA (MOP193 million) in the first four months of 2011 decreased by 18.9%, 4.3% and 27.5% respectively year-on-year; however, exports to the EU (MOP129 million) increased by 1.2%. Exports of Jewellery (MOP133 million) and Clocks & watches (MOP110 million) decreased by 68.0% and 27.2% respectively, but that of Tobacco & wine (MOP181 million) grew by 57.0%; meanwhile, exports of Textile & garment declined by 11.4% to MOP455 million. In the first four months of 2011, value of merchandise import from Mainland China (MOP5.33 billion) and the EU (MOP4.50 billion) expanded by 29.9% and 56.1% respectively year-on-year. Imports of Consumer goods soared by 31.0% to MOP10.53 billion, of which imports of Food & beverages (MOP2.66 billion), Gold jewellery (MOP1.29 billion) and Handbags & wallets (MOP933 million) increased by 35.5%, 24.9% and 106.7% respectively. Moreover, imports of Capital goods (MOP3.25 billion) registered year-on-year increase of 71.8%. In the first four months of 2011, total value of merchandise import and export amounted to MOP19.77 billion, up by 24.9% compared with MOP15.83 billion a year earlier.
