Macau's merchandise imports rose 30.5 percent year-on-year to 38.48 billion patacas (US$4.76 billion) in the first quarter, when exports grew 12.3 percent to 3.87 billion patacas, resulting in a trade balance deficit of 34.60 billion patacas, the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC) announced today.
Imports of beauty, cosmetics and skincare products, Macau's number-one import item, increased 101.0 percent to 6.22 billion patacas. Gold jewellery imports rose 56.6 percent to 2.97 billion patacas.
Re-exports accounted for 87.0 percent of all exports. Some 80.0 percent of Macau's total exports went to Hong Kong in the first quarter.
Mainland China (28.6 percent), France (21.4 percent) and Italy were Macau's top three sources of imports between January and March.
