one third of the world's people. During 1972, Hong Kong's imports from and total exports to these countries were greater than those from any other trading group (eg. EEC, EFTA, Comecon). This pattern has varied little over the post war period.
And what is even more important, the entry of the UK into the EEC does not spell the end of Commonwealth Preference between other members of the Commonwealth. For example, as this article is being written, an an- nouncement has reached the Chamber from the New Zealand Government informing us that HK will receive Commonwealth Preference for as long as New Zealand continues to ad- minister such Preferences. In the case of New Zealand, some 64 per cent of our domestic exports benefit- and therefore will continue to benefit -from this arrangement. Britain the investor
Britain is of course not only a major active and potential trading partner, but also a direct and indirect investor in Hong Kong industry. At the end of 1972 there were 832 com- panies from over 45 overseas countries registered in Hong Kong. The largest group, 217, were American owned. The next largest group, 106 com- panies, were British.
Of these, 21 were industrial (as op- posed to commercial) concerns, and represented a total investment worth $108 million. (For purposes of com- parison, industrial investment by other nations at the same period stood at: USA: $465 million; Japan: $277 mil- lion; Singapore: $116 million.) Since
data on the commercial sector is not so easy to obtain, it is difficult to establish how this pattern would be affected were commercial concerns taken into account, but it would al- most certainly increase significantly the British proportion.
Industries in which British capital is employed include garments (5 units), textiles (3 units), electronics, wigs, and chemical products (2 units each) and several others.
By August 1973, the number of Bri- tish industrial companies here had risen to 23, with a total investment of $115 million evidence that the interest of UK industrialists in Hong Kong, despite the current lure of Europe, has not ceased.
This figure of course covers com- panies that are wholly British owned. In addition, there is still a volume of indirect British investment via the holdings of UK citizens and institu- tions in the quoted shares of Hong Kong companies. Not all of the hold- ings of UK investors drained away in the alleged £350 million that left Hong Kong during the height of the stock exchange boom!
Since these holdings are in private hands, it is difficult to quantify them. Nonetheless, circumstantial evidence suggests that they are likely to be larger in volume than the holdings of most other groups of overseas nation- als. We shall look at the value of the UK as a capital market in more detail during the financial sector of this article.
But before doing so, how is one to classify the Hong Kong British' com-
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