CONFIDENTIAL
BRIEF No.5 MULTI-FIBRE ARRANGEMENT
ANNEX B
UK/HONG KONG TRADE
1.
UK textile output is down 25% since January 1980; over 170,000 jobs have been lost and more than 700 closures notified. The industry still employs almost 600,000 people; 1 in 10 of all jobs are in manufacturing nationally, and in Ulster 1 in 3. The UK textiles lobby is consequently strong; it is
politically and economically necessary
that HMG should take a
firm line in negotiations.
2.
Hong Kong remains very much our dominant low-cost supplier, accounting for almost 60% of the UK's clothing imports from MFA suppliers in 1980. Although her share of UK imports has fallen slightly in recent years, the absolute level has
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not in terms of value, her exports to the UK increased on average by 13% a year at current prices between 1978 and 1981, and there was also an upward trend in volume terms.
3.
area.
Hong Kong is, of course, extremely sensitive in this Textiles and clothing still employ about 40% of Hong Kong's total industrial workforce, and in 1981 amounted for 42%
by value (£3,000 million) of total domestic exports. The UK is Hong Kong's largest single market in these sectors in the Community. In 1981 she accounted for almost £400 million out of total UK imports from MFA suppliers of some £950 million and overall low-cost imports of just under £1200 million.
CONFIDENTIAL