Macau’s gold jewellery imports rose by 55.2 percent year-on-year to 10.8 billion patacas in the first nine months of this year, the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC) announced yesterday.
Gold jewellery accounted for 10.2 percent of Macau’s imports between January and September and made up the number-two segment of merchandise imports, after food and beverages which grew by 32.9 percent to 18.16 billion patacas.
Gold jewellery purchases are popular with mainland Chinese tourists.
Imports of beauty, cosmetic and skincare products dropped by 34.1 percent to 9.8 billion patacas.
Total imports increased by 3.5 percent to 105.79 billion patacas, resulting in a merchandise trade balance deficit of 96.28 billion patacas. Total exports decreased by 6.1 percent to 9.5 billion patacas. Re-exports accounted for 87.7 percent of all exports.
Exports of casino supplies leapt by 417 percent to 565 million patacas.
Most of Macau’s imports originated from the Chinese mainland (27.7 percent), France (16.6 percent) and Italy (12.0 percent).
Some 73.3 percent of exports were shipped to Hong Kong.
Macau is a free port and a separate customs territory. It is a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and World Customs Organisation (WCO).
