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Nana, Leong Wong Un Na<\/p>\n50 years before Macau began to be discussed as a gateway to Portuguese-speaking countries, Macau and Angola, as well as Macau and Mozambique, were already important trading partners.<\/p>\n
According to research by local historian Leong Wong Un Na, \u201cDuring the 1950s and 1960s, Macau\u2019s garment industries rapidly grew by relying on the Portuguese African markets. And Angola played a key market role in Macau\u2019s early industrialization.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, \u201cthe interactions between Macau and Angola over several centuries were not continuously close.\u201d Due to their shared status as Portuguese colonies, \u201cthey exhibited complementary supply and demand relationships during certain periods. From scattered data, it is understood that Angola obtained essential daily needs through exports from Macau; government personnel transfers absorbed technical expertise and experience for social expansion and development, and folk art exchanges fostered cultural interactions between the two regions.\u201d<\/p>\n
The researcher also states that \u201cthe Portuguese government even attempted to apply the political management model used in Angola to Macau, but this ultimately failed due to incompatibility, forcing a change in policy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Economic and trade exchanges became frequent only in the 1950s<\/p>\n
It was not until the 1950s that economic and trade exchanges between Macau and Angola became frequent, writes Prof. Na in an article that is a summary of her extensive academic research work (\u201cEconomic and Trade Relations between Macau and Angola in the mid-20th century\u201d).<\/p>\n
When the Korean War broke out, the United Nations implemented an embargo policy in 1951, subsequently applying trade restrictions to Hong Kong and Macau in June and October 1952.<\/p>\n
Macau, being a transport hub, faced widespread social relations related to the embargo policy. Thus, at the beginning of the embargo period, Macau was still able to conduct transport trade.<\/p>\n
By 1955, Macau began developing a garment export trade, mainly targeting markets in Angola and Mozambique, with government support and cooperation. Before this, the main exports from Macau to these regions included rice, preserved goods, matches, processed tobacco, and Chinese liquor. Later, the export of ready-made garments from Macau gradually increased, explains the author.<\/p>\n
A supply chain formed between Angola and Macau<\/p>\n
In the early 1950s, some Chinese manufacturers brought workers to Macau to establish garment factories, such as \u201cDapeng\u201d, \u201cLianhe\u201d, and \u201cRisheng\u201d. \u201cInitially, their products were sold locally, but later, due to the rotation of Portuguese officials, the ready-made garments produced in Macau were taken to Portugal or Portuguese African territories, sparking local interest,\u201d explains Leong Na.<\/p>\n
\u201cPortuguese importers in those regions saw business opportunities and began requesting supply orders with small amounts. Subsequently, some Portuguese businessmen in Macau engaged in this trade to earn profits, accumulating capital and resources,\u201d adds the article.<\/p>\n
This indirectly strengthened the power structure of the Portuguese among various colonies and further expanded their influence and control in a complementary manner. \u201cThe expansion of the market, with products gradually shifting from domestic sales to exports, promoted the development of Macau\u2019s garment industry. A supply chain formed between Angola and Macau, fostering economic development in both areas, especially in Macau.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nana, Leong Wong Un Na<\/p>\n
By the 1960s, the garment industry in Macau experienced rapid growth. The number of garment factories increased from over 10 in 1957 to nearly 100, with employees rising from about 1,000 to nearly 10,000. \u201cThis growth was partly stimulated by the Portuguese markets, especially in Portuguese Africa, such as Angola, while on the other hand, due to the cotton textile import restrictions imposed by the UK and the US, resulting in some orders shifting from Hong Kong to Macau,\u201d reads the article. By the 1970s, Macau\u2019s garment industry was prosperous.<\/p>\n
In 1958, the value of total goods exported from Macau was over 55 million patacas, while the amount of goods shipped to Portuguese territories was over 14 million patacas, and exports to Angola and Mozambique each increased by over 2 million patacas, marking the highest export value in Macau\u2019s trade with Portuguese territories in the 1950s. The leading exported goods were shirts, followed by shoes and hats.<\/p>\n
In 1960, the volume of goods sent to Angola and Mozambique continued to rise, mainly due to new tax benefits in Article 2 of Decree No. 41026 issued on March 9, 1957, which stated that \u201cthe current import duties for excess provinces would be recalculated with minimum tax rates for preferential treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 1968, exports to Angola reached over MOP106 million; over MOP210 million in 1969; and increased to over MOP367 million in 1971. \u201cThe volume of goods sent from Macau to Angola continued to grow,\u201d states Prof. Na.<\/p>\n
A rapid decline in Macau\u2019s textile export trade after independence<\/p>\n
On January 15, 1975, Portugal and Angola signed the Alvor Agreement, which included multiple agreements and confirmed Angola\u2019s declaration of independence later that same year. \u201cDue to ongoing civil war lasting 27 years until 2002, and following Portugal\u2019s April 25, 1974 revolution and the successive independence of African colonies, Portugal\u2019s trade markets in East and West Africa began to contract.\u201d<\/p>\n
The impact was significant: the East and West African countries broke away from Portugal, \u201cMacau\u2019s dyed fabric exports lost preferential treatment in that region, weakening competitiveness. Furthermore, strict regulations on the import of fabrics were imposed, leading to a rapid decline in Macau\u2019s textile export trade.\u201d<\/p>\n
The garment industry in Macau suffered significant setbacks, and the footwear industry also faced similar challenges.<\/p>\n
Import and export trade activities between Angola and Macau persisted even before Macau\u2019s handover, \u201cbut they had lost their former splendor and appeared to be on a downward trajectory.\u201d In 1999, the total value of goods shipped to Angola totalled only MOP62,500, including machine parts. Imports from Angola to Macau were valued at only MOP400, primarily comprising meat and edible offal.<\/p>\n
In summary \u2013 explains the Macau-based researcher with academic training in Macau, China, and Portugal \u2013, during the 1950s and 1960s, \u201cMacau and Angola maintained close economic ties centered on trade and industrial goods exports, with Angola playing an important role in Macau\u2019s early industrial development. However, with the collapse of the Portuguese colonial system, the independence of the African colonies, and regional political turmoil, the commercial structure rapidly became muddled, resulting in only sporadic and symbolic trade activities between Macau and Angola before the handover.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"50 years before Macau began to be discussed as a gateway to Portuguese-speaking countries, Macau and Angola, as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390394,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7],"tags":[1151,1409,141158,9467],"class_list":["post-390393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-angola","tag-angola","tag-international","tag-macau","tag-mna"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@africa\/117139283744252331","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}