Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that total merchandise export for March 2016 amounted to MOP1.01 billion, down by 3.9% year-on-year; value of domestic exports (MOP147 million) dropped by 21.5%, with that of Garments (MOP1.53 million) falling by 79.2%; value of re-exports (MOP867 million) edged down by 0.1%. Total merchandise import declined by 23.2% year-on-year to MOP5.49 billion, of which imports of Motor cars and Mobile phones decreased by 63.7% and 57.6% respectively. Merchandise trade deficit amounted to MOP4.48 billion. In the first quarter of 2016, total value of merchandise export fell by 0.2% year-on-year to MOP2.70 billion, of which value of domestic exports (MOP380 million) decreased by 25.0%, but that of re-exports (MOP2.32 billion) increased by 5.5%. Total value of merchandise import fell by 22.1% to MOP17.30 billion. Merchandise trade deficit widened to MOP14.60 billion for the first quarter of 2016. Analysed by destination, merchandise export to Mainland China increased by 3.5% year-on-year to MOP400 million in the first quarter of 2016, of which exports to the nine provinces of the Pan Pearl River Delta (MOP386 million) rose by 4.7% but exports to Hong Kong (MOP1.68 billion) decreased by 0.5%. Meanwhile, export to the EU (MOP41 million) and the USA (MOP30 million) reduced by 23.1% and 48.2% respectively. Exports of Non-textiles declined by 0.4% year-on-year to MOP2.49 billion, of which value of Machines, apparatus & parts (MOP257 million) dropped by 25.1% but that of Clocks & watches (MOP385 million) grew by 5.7%. Exports of Textiles & garments totalled MOP209 million, up by 2.5%. By place of origin, merchandise import from Mainland China (MOP6.27 billion) and the EU (MOP4.21 billion) in the first quarter of 2016 decreased by 24.4% and 21.8% respectively year-on-year. Analysed by place of consignment, merchandise import from Mainland China declined by 14.9% to MOP2.57 billion, of which import from the nine provinces of the Pan Pearl River Delta (MOP2.41 billion) fell by 15.8%. Imports of Consumer goods dropped by 16.1% to MOP11.04 billion, with imports of Watches (MOP1.06 billion) and Motor cars & motorcycles (MOP339 million) decreasing by 38.8% and 48.2% respectively. Moreover, imports of Fuels & lubricants (MOP1.34 billion), Mobile phones (MOP1.30 billion) and Construction materials (MOP489 million) declined by 19.9%, 51.8% and 39.3% respectively. External merchandise trade totalled MOP20.00 billion in the first quarter of 2016, down by 19.7% compared with MOP24.92 billion a year earlier.
