MSAR-China trade plummets in January

The city’s bilateral trade with Mainland China plunged 32.2 per cent year-on-year to US$210 million (MOP1.68 billion) for the first month of the year as import and export activities between the two parties plunged in the month, the latest official data from the Department of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao Affairs of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce reveals.
In the month, China’s exports to the city amounted to US$200 million, plummeting 31 per cent, whilst its imports from the territory nosedived 60.3 per cent year-on-year to US$10 million.
On a month-on-month comparison, total trade value between the two parties registered a decrease of 25 per cent. In particular, China’s imports from Macau dropped 40.1 per cent whilst its exports to the city dropped by 25.9 per cent.
Mainland Chinese authorities approved a total of 60 projects invested by Macau firms in the country during the month, an increase of 130.8 per cent year-on-year. However, actual capital used on these projects plunged 73.6 per cent year-on-year to some US$10 million.
Accumulatively, a total of 15,134 projects invested in by local companies were approved to operate in the country as at the end of January, with actual capital used totalling US$13.61 million. Nevertheless, the amount only represents 0.8 per cent of the total foreign investment that the country had attracted.
On the other hand, non-financial direct investment from the country to the MSAR amounted to US$4.39 million in the first month of the year whilst accumulative investment from the Mainland totalled US$2.18 billion as at the end of January.
Meanwhile, two Macau projects were contracted to Mainland companies in the same month, the Ministry said. The two contracts were worth a total of US$2.42 million, while the companies completed sales of some US$176 million.
As at the end of the month, some 122,805 workers from Mainland China were working in the MSAR, the Ministry said.