Macao's trade deficit for February reached 2.43 billion patacas (307 million U.S. dollars), according to figures released Wednesday by the city's Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).

The DSEC indicated that the value of total merchandise import for February registered an increase for the fourth consecutive month, up by 9.2 percent year-on-year to 2.89 billion patacas in the period, while that of merchandise export decreased by 24.5 percent to 461 million patacas.

Regarding the country of origin of imported goods, value of merchandise import from the Chinese mainland and the European Union expanded by 18.4 percent and 16.5 percent respectively year- on-year in the period, according to the DSEC.

In terms of Broad Economic Categories, the value of imports of consumer goods rose by 39.5 percent year-on-year, with that of motor cars and motorcycles growing significantly by 98 percent, while that of imports of capital goods and raw materials and semi- manufactures fell by 19.4 percent and 9 percent, respectively.

Regarding exports, value of merchandise export to Hong Kong increased by 28.4 percent year-on-year in the period, while that to the United States and the EU decreased by 65.9 percent and 54.1 percent, respectively.

Exports of textile and garment dropped substantially by 59.1 percent year-on-year to account for 22.9 percent of the total merchandise export, while that of non-textile exports grew by 8.1 percent.

The combined value of Macao's merchandise import and export amounted to 7.52 billion patacas in the first two months of the year, an increase of 9.1 percent over last year, according to the DSEC.