Most local exporters express less confidence in the export business for the near future, citing price competition with other regions and the rise in raw material costs as their primary concerns, the Industrial Export Survey for the third quarter conducted by Macao Economic Services (DSE) reveals. Only 6.2 per cent of the 79 respondent companies surveyed in the third quarter reflected that they were optimistic about the export business for the coming six months, a percentage that has shrunk from 29.3 per cent in the same quarter last year, according to the survey. There is also an increase in the proportion of companies that expressed a pessimistic outlook on the export business: around 35 per cent of respondent companies surveyed in the third quarter were pessimistic about the export business for the coming six months, an increased percentage from 21 per cent registered in the same period last year. The survey questioned local export companies engaged in pharmacy, clothing manufacturing, electronics and electrical appliances. Asked about their major concerns for the export business for the fourth quarter, price competition with other regions and the rise in raw material costs were cited by the surveyed companies, DSE said. In the third quarter, 18.3 per cent of the surveyed companies cited ‘lack of staff’ as their biggest challenge for their export business; ‘rising costs of raw materials’ and ‘lack of export orders’ are the other two major challenges, cited by 11.4 per cent of the companies and 10.1 per cent, respectively. According to the third quarter survey, 61.4 per cent of the respondent companies said they lacked staff, a percentage that is already slightly lower than the 67.6 per cent measured in the second quarter and 63.4 per cent registered in the same quarter last year. Mainland China was viewed as a relatively better market for the city’s exports in the third quarter, while other countries in the Asia Pacific region have been performing poorly in the period, the DSE survey said.
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