KNITWEAR
App I
Knitwear manufacturing is one of the biggest sectors in Hong Kong's garment industry. In 1979, Hong Kong's total exports of knitwear were valued at HK$2,400 million or approximately £200 million. The amount was made up of about 29 million pieces of knitwear in wool and quality, of which
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31% went to the USA
16% to the UK
12% to the Federal Republic of Germany and
7% to Japan.
The volume of Hong Kong's exports in terms of quantity continues to increase. During the first 5 months of this year, Hong Kong has exported 21 million pieces of knitwear representing an increase of 24% over the same period a year ago.
3 Every year more than 13 million kg of woollen yarn are consumed, of which about 95% are imported. In terms of quantity, our principal sources of supply are Japan which in 1979 supplied 2% or 3.8 million kg of our total imports, followed by Taiwan (24% or 3.3 million kg), and South Korea (22% or 3 million kg). UK was the 6th largest supplier supplying less than half a million kg of the commodity to Hong Kong.
4 The UK, being one of the world's largest woollen yarn producers, could expect to have a much larger share of the Hong Kong market, because the local knitwear manufacturers have to upgrade the quality of their products in the face of rising manufacturing costs and competition. This being the case, Hong Kong is willing to pay more for good quality material like Shetland, lambswool and cashmere. A 10% differential was unlikely to be detrimental in the case of high quality knitwear. Hong uk Kong prices could be 20%-25% higher than Japan's however. There is a demand in Hong Kong for such material and UK can satisfy it.
5 On the question of colours it was noted that UK mills would spin any colours to buyer's specification, but there was usually a minimum quantity for any order.
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Hong Kong is a big user of fancy yarns and if the UK could induce Hong Kong to buy British fancy yarns, manufacturers in other regions would follow suit.
7 March September represented the bulk of the knitwear buying season. Any sales visit should be between October to November with a view to starting shipment in December.