Macao's volume of export in the first quarter of 2004 hit 4.26 billion patacas (US$530 million), up 5.2 percent over the same period of last year.

According to a news release issued by the Statistic and Census Services of the Macao Special Administrative Region, export of textile and garment accounted for 76.7 percent of the total volume of export. The volume of textile-and-garment export grew by 1.1 percent over the first quarter of last year.

Some 68.4 percent of Macao's export went to the United States and the European Union. The volume of export to the United States drops by 7.2 percent as compared with the same period of last year, while the export to the European Union increases by 25.7 percent.

Meanwhile, Macao's volume of import in the first quarter of 2004 saw a 26.9-percent increase over the same period of last year, with 51.7 percent of the import coming from Chinese mainland and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

(Xinhua News Agency May 6, 2004)