Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that total merchandise export for January 2017 amounted to MOP971 million, down slightly by 0.4% year-on-year; value of re-exports (MOP802 million) dropped by 3.9%, with that of Watches (MOP96 million) falling by 18.0%; meanwhile, value of domestic exports (MOP169 million) increased by 19.7%, with that of Tobacco (MOP43 million) rising by 61.7%. Total merchandise import dropped by 2.9% year-on-year to MOP6.56 billion, of which imports of Garments & footwear and Construction materials declined by 7.1% and 39.6% respectively. Merchandise trade deficit amounted to MOP5.59 billion.
Analysed by destination, merchandise export to Mainland China decreased by 19.8% year-on-year to MOP111 million in January 2017, of which exports to the nine provinces of the Pan Pearl River Delta (MOP100 million) fell by 24.1%, while exports to Hong Kong (MOP643 million) rose by 1.4%. Meanwhile, exports to the USA (MOP22 million) and the EU (MOP21 million) grew by 110.2% and 21.6% respectively. Exports of Non-textiles increased by 2.7% year-on-year to MOP927 million, of which value of Diamond & diamond jewellery (MOP146 million) soared by 74.6%, but that of Watches (MOP96 million) dropped by 18.0%. Exports of Textiles & garments totalled MOP44 million, down by 39.3%.
By place of origin, merchandise import from Mainland China (MOP2.33 billion) decreased by 13.0% year-on-year in January 2017, whereas import from the EU (MOP1.68 billion) increased by 6.4%. Meanwhile, imports from the Portuguese-speaking Countries (MOP62 million) expanded by 22.8%. Analysed by place of consignment, merchandise import from Mainland China declined by 11.1% to MOP855 million, of which imports from the nine provinces of the Pan Pearl River Delta (MOP822 million) fell by 7.9%. Imports of Consumer goods grew by 6.8% to MOP4.45 billion, with imports of Gold jewellery (MOP721 million) and Watches (MOP457 million) rising by 33.4% and 27.2% respectively. Moreover, value of imports of Construction materials(MOP127 million) and Motor cars & motorcycles (MOP85 million) declined by 39.6% and 20.8% respectively.
External merchandise trade totalled MOP7.53 billion in January 2017, down by 2.6% compared with MOP7.73 billion a year earlier.