Macau’s merchandise imports fell 11.8 percent year on year to 78.39 billion patacas in the first seven months of the year, while total exports of goods (domestic exports and re-exports) dropped 0.4 percent to 7.76 billion patacas, the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC) announced this week.

Re-exports accounted for 84.7 percent of total exports.

In the January-July period, Macau recorded a merchandise trade balance deficit of 70.62 billion patacas.

Beauty, cosmetic and skincare products – Macau’s number-one import segment – decreased 17.4 percent to 11.58 billion patacas.

Most of Macau’s imports originated from the Chinese mainland (30.3 percent), France (19.5 percent) and Italy (11.6 percent).

Some 76 percent of Macau’s exports were shipped to Hong Kong.