Macau’s imports dropped by 1.9 percent year-on-year to 10.293 billion patacas last month, accounting for 88.9 percent of its external merchandise (imports + exports) trade of 11.582 billion patacas, the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC) has announced.
Total exports, comprising exports and re-exports, rose by 8.8 percent to 1.29 billion patacas. Re-exports, which accounted for 11.2 percent of Macau’s merchandise trade, increased by 9.9 percent to 1.15 billion patacas, or 89.5 percent total exports. Domestic exports grew by 0.8 percent to 135 million patacas in July.
Diamonds and diamond jewellery were Macau’s top export items in July, rising by 93.5 percent to 214 million patacas.
Food and beverages continued to be Macau’s number-one import segment, amounting of 1.72 billion patacas, followed by garments and footwear (947 million patacas) and gold jewellery (843 million patacas).
In the first seven months of the year, exports grew by 1.6 percent to 7.91 billion patacas, while imports decreased by 4.6 percent to 70.67 billion patacas.
Between January and July, 74.1 percent of Macau’s exports were shipped to Hong Kong, while the Chinese mainland, France and Italy continued to be Macau’s main export markets, taking up 29.7 percent, 14.9 percent and 10.3 percent of all exports, respectively.
Macau is a separate customs territory and a free port.
Macau’s population stood at 685,900 at the end of June; the special administrative region recorded 3.458 million visitor arrivals in July, according to the latest DSEC data.
Undated file photo of Macau's Inner Harbour - Photo courtesy of Seaport Macao
