Exports of jewelry, cosmetics products surge

Total merchandise export for July 2019 increased by 13.6% year-on-year, amounting to 1.04 billion patacas, the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) informed in a press statement, with the notable rise being led by surges in the jewelry and cosmetics sectors.

According to the statement, the value of re-exports, accounting for the major component of total exports, increased by 16% to MOP918 million. Re-exports of beauty, cosmetics and skin-care products; and diamonds and diamond jewelry surging by an impressive 230.6% and 166.1% respectively.

However, the value of domestic exports (MOP124 million) declined by 1.7%, with that of copper and articles made of copper falling by 36.2%.

In July, the total merchandise import fell by 3.2% year-on-year to MOP7.2 billion, of which imports of mobile phones, construction materials and gold jewelry declined by 54.4%, 41.1%, and 22.9% respectively. Meanwhile, imports of beauty, cosmetic and skin-care products; and food and beverages increased by 41.2% and 19.6% respectively.
Accordingly, the merchandise trade deficit in July was MOP6.16 billion in total.

As for the first seven months of the year, the value of merchandise export increased by 4.7% year-on-year to MOP7.44 billion where value of re-exports (MOP6.65 billion) grew by 7.5% and domestic exports (MOP798 million) declined by 14.1%.
The total value of merchandise import fell by 2.2% year-on-year to MOP49.48 billion, which led to a merchandise trade deficit of MOP42.04 billion, a decrease of MOP1.45 billion compared to the same period of 2018.

In terms of the destination of the exports and origin of the imports, merchandise exported to mainland China decreased by 21.7% year-on-year to MOP929 million from January to July 2019, wherein exports to the nine provinces of the Pan-Pearl River Delta (MOP888 million) declined by 23.2%. Meanwhile, exports to Hong Kong (MOP4.89 billion), the EU (MOP121 million) and the U.S. (MOP112 million) grew by 10.4%, 0.2%, and 31.7% respectively.

Imports from mainland China (MOP16.49 billion) decreased by 5.4% year-on-year in the first seven months of 2019. On the other hand, imports from the EU (MOP13.52 billion), Belt and Road Countries (MOP7.78 billion) and Portuguese-speaking countries (MOP506 million) increased by 6.5%, 97.0%, and 10.3% respectively. RM