In another indication that Macao’s economy is recovering from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, Macao’s gold jewellery imports leaped by 640.5 per cent year-on-year to MOP 509.9 billion (US$63.9 billion) in February, the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC) has announced.
Gold jewellery is particularly popular with Macao’s mainland Chinese tourists. Their entry permit regulations – which were severely restricted last year – have meanwhile been gradually eased.
Mobile phone imports increased by 528.8 per cent year-on-year to MOP 776.3 billion in February when imports of watches grew by 300.4 per cent to MOP 864 million and those of handbags and wallets rose by 417.7 per cent to MOP 721.2 million.
Garments and footwear imports, which rose by 191.0 per cent to MOP 948.3 million, were Macao’s number-one import segment in February. Food and beverage imports increased by just 11.2 percent to MOP 789.7 million.
In February, total merchandise imports rose by 102.8 percent to MOP 7.7 billion, while exports fell by 16.8 per cent to MOP 728.7 million, resulting in a merchandise trade balance deficit of MOP 8.48 billion. Re-exports accounted for 87.5 per cent of Macao’s total exports in February.
Most of Macao’s imports originated from mainland China and Hong Kong (40.2 per cent), France (14.4 per cent) and Italy (13.8 per cent), reported the Macau Post Daily.
Nearly three-quarters of Macao’s exports went to Hong Kong (73.9 per cent) in February. A mere 1.6 per cent of local exports were shipped to the EU, and just 3.4 per cent to the US.
