Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that total merchandise export for July 2016 amounted to MOP832 million, down by 12.6% year-on-year; value of re-exports (MOP647 million) dropped by 17.3%, with that of Garments (MOP40 million) falling by 49.6%; value of domestic exports (MOP186 million) expanded by 9.2%, with that of Tobacco (MOP44 million) rising by 12.7%. Total merchandise import decreased by 21.1% year-on-year to MOP5.70 billion, of which imports of Mobile phones and Watches declined by 45.9% and 44.0% respectively. Merchandise trade deficit amounted to MOP4.87 billion. In the first seven months of 2016, total value of merchandise export dropped by 7.4% year-on-year to MOP5.94 billion, of which value of re-exports (MOP4.92 billion) and domestic exports (MOP1.02 billion) decreased by 7.4% and 7.1% respectively. Total value of merchandise import fell by 21.3% to MOP39.19 billion. Merchandise trade deficit widened to MOP33.25 billion for the first seven months of 2016. Analysed by destination, merchandise export to Hong Kong decreased by 11.8% year-on-year to MOP3.45 billion in the first seven months of 2016. Although exports to the nine provinces of the Pan Pearl River Delta (MOP980 million) fell by 2.1%, exports to Hubei Province (MOP15 million) and Beijing (MOP12 million) surged by 1,247.6% and 58.7% respectively, resulting in a 0.3% rise in exports to Mainland China (MOP1.04 billion). Meanwhile, exports to the EU (MOP120 million) and the USA (MOP86 million) reduced by 20.7% and 32.0% respectively. Exports of Non-textiles declined by 6.8% year-on-year to MOP5.54 billion, of which value of Clocks & watches (MOP602 million) dropped by 32.0% but that of Tobacco & wine (MOP489 million) grew by 47.6%. Exports of Textiles & garments totalled MOP404 million, down by 14.9%. By place of origin, merchandise import from Mainland China (MOP14.43 billion) and the EU (MOP9.41 billion) in the first seven months of 2016 decreased by 21.8% and 16.3% respectively year-on-year. Analysed by place of consignment, merchandise import from Mainland China declined by 8.7% to MOP6.67 billion, of which imports from the nine provinces of the Pan Pearl River Delta (MOP6.37 billion) fell by 8.3%. Imports of Consumer goods dropped by 18.0% to MOP24.21 billion, with imports of Watches (MOP2.24 billion) and Motor cars & motorcycles (MOP700 million) decreasing by 42.8% and 56.4% respectively. Moreover, imports of Fuels & lubricants (MOP3.50 billion), Mobile phones (MOP2.56 billion) and Construction materials (MOP1.23 billion) declined by 14.2%, 47.4% and 33.5% respectively. External merchandise trade totalled MOP45.13 billion in the first seven months of 2016, down by 19.7% compared with MOP56.22 billion a year earlier.
