China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) exported 4.92 billion patacas (US$615 million) of goods in the first four months of this year, down 8.5 percent from a year ago, according to the latest official statistics.
Figures released by the Statistics and Census Services show that the SAR's imports reached 6.04 billion patacas (US$755 million) in the four months, representing a year-on-year rise of 19.7 percent.
The exports to China's inland were up, but those to other major export markets in Europe and America all went down. Anyway, the United States and the European Union countries still received 71 percent of Macao's exports in the four-month period.
Statistics show that the exports of textile products and garments made up 77.6 percent of the total, down 13.1 percent year on year, while that of non-textile products increased 12 percent.
The increase of imports was led by that of capital goods, fuel, lubricating oil and consumption goods, which mainly came from the Asian countries and regions, the source said.
(People's Daily 06/08/2001)
