Imports up 10 percent in June

Total merchandise imports in June 2017 increased by 10.4 percent year-
on-year to MOP6.17 billion, according to information from the Statistics and Census Service. Of this figure, imports of motor cars and motorcycles nearly doubled compared with June 2016, and imports of watches increased by 51.8 percent.

The total merchandise export for the month amounted to MOP938 million, which represents an increase of  14.3 percent year-on-year. As a result, the merchandise trade deficit amounted to MOP5.24 billion.

In the second quarter of 2017, the total value of merchandise imports (MOP17.23 billion) and merchandise export (MOP2.67 billion) grew by 5.3 percent and 10.8 percent year-on-year respectively, resulting in a trade deficit of MOP14.56 billion.

In the first half of the year, merchandise import grew by 5.6 percent year-on-year to MOP35.12 billion, while merchandise export increased by 9.8 percent to MOP5.62 billion. The trade deficit in this period reached MOP29.5 billion.

By place of origin, in the first half of 2017, merchandise import from mainland China (MOP11.51 billion) and the Portuguese-speaking countries (MOP306 million) decreased by 6.7 percent and 3.3 percent year-on-year respectively. However, imports from the European Union (MOP9.07 billion) increased by 14.8 percent.

As for exports, merchandise headed for mainland China increased by 2.3 percent year- on-year to MOP917 million in the first half of 2017, of which exports to the nine provinces of the Pan Pearl River Delta (MOP870 million) also grew by 2.3 percent.

Exports in the first half of 2017 to Hong Kong (MOP3.5 billion), the EU (MOP100 million) and the U.S. (MOP95 million) rose by 16.8 percent, 8.7 percent and 26.8 percent year-on-year respectively. Exports to Portuguese-speaking countries (MOP0.7 million) dropped by a whopping 87.8 percent year-on-year.