Macau | Import value up 26.5 pct to MOP22.50 bln in Q1

Macau (MNA) – The value of total imports to Macau increased by 26.5 per cent yearly to MOP22.50 billion (US$2.78 billion) in the first three months of this year.

Imports from Mainland China amounted to more than a third of the total value, and increased 29.7 per cent year-on-year to MOP7.67 billion, while imports from Hong Kong rose 19.3 per cent to MOP1.89 billion, while imports from Taiwan dipped 2 per cent to MOP410 million.

Commodities, imports of consumer goods represented 64.5 per cent of total imports, followed by capital goods (18.8 per cent), raw materials & semi-manufactures (9.7 per cent) and fuels & lubricants (7.0 per cent).

The value of consumer good imports increased by 22.9 per cent to MOP14.52 billion, with the largest share or 15.6 per cent represented by food and beverages.

Meanwhile, the total value of exports from Macau edged up 0.8 per cent yearly to MOP2.97 billion as the city’s trade deficit expanded from MOP14.84 billion in the first quarter of 2017 to MOP19.53 billion in the same period this year.

However, while merchandise exports to Vietnam (MOP12.8 million) and Mainland China (MOP470.5 million) increased by 73.6 per cent and 15.2 per cent,respectively; exports to Japan (MOP11.5 million), Singapore (MOP3.3 million), the USA (MOP31.9 million), the EU (MOP39.9 million), Taiwan (MOP3.6 million) and Hong Kong (MOP1.92 billion) decreased by 83.9 per cent, 71.6 per cent, 25.9 per cent, 21.7 per cent, 5.4 per cent and 1.1 per cent, respectively.

Some 86.6 per cent of total exports in the first quarter of 2018 – or MOP2.57 billion-worth – were actually re-exports, with the largest share of re-exports headed to Hong Kong at 66.1 per centfollowed by Mainland China at 15.2 per cent.