In the second quarter of the Macao Provincial Government Economic Bureau's "industrial export status survey", more than half of the respondents thought that the "high price of raw materials", "foreign price competition" and "shortage of personnel" were the main problems that currently plagued Macao's export processing industry.

The average number of orders on hand in Macao enterprises was three point one five months, a slight increase of four percent over the same period last year.

The industry with more orders is garment manufacturing, three point two eight months, followed by shoes, three point zero six months.

In the export market, the US and EU markets perform better, followed by Canada; the performance of other European countries, Latin American countries, Australia, Middle East countries and African countries has continued to be poor, and the order is not ideal.

In view of the outlook for export in the second half of this year, Macao manufacturers are cautiously optimistic. More than half of the respondents said that the "high price of raw materials", "foreign price competition" and "shortage of personnel" are the main problems that currently beset Macao's export processing industry.

In terms of labor demand, respondents said that the number of employed persons in the export industry decreased, compared with the previous quarter and the same period last year, respectively, by four point six percent and eleven point eight percent respectively.

70% enterprises say there is a shortage of personnel, especially in garment manufacturing industry.