Macau posted a trade deficit of 65.01 billion patacas (US$8.12 billion) in the period from January to October, a 12 percent increase over the figure recorded in the same period of 2013, the region’s Statistics and Census Bureau said.

The deficit in the first ten months of the year was due to the fact that Macau exported goods to the value of 8.13 billion patacas (+9 percent) but imported goods amounting to 73.14 billion patacas (+12 percent).

Exports between January and October saw increases to the Hong Kong markets (4.76 billion patacas) and the European Union (237 million patacas) of 22 percent and 3 percent, respectively, and decreases in relation to the markets of mainland China (1.28 billion patacas) and the United States of America (263 million patacas) of 5 percent and 13 percent, respectively.

In turn, imports from mainland China (23.80 billion patacas) and the EU (18.29 billion patacas) rose by 11 percent and 20 percent.

In the period, the Statistics and Census Bureau said, wristwatch imports, for example, totalled 6.83 billion patacas (US$853 million), or an annual increase of 40 percent.

In October the territory’s balance of trade recorded a deficit of 7.31 billion patacas, with exports reaching 829 million patacas (+19 percent) and imports 8.14 billion patacas (+16 percent). (macauhub/MO)