JOGACT
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VISIT TO HONG KONG BY LORD GLENARTHUR, 16-19 SEPTEMBER
BACKGROUND BRIEF C: UK/HONG KONG TRADE
1.
Hong Kong is the UK's seventeenth largest export market, and
the second largest in the Far East only just behind Japan. UK exports to Hong Kong in 1986 were £961m - a 1% increase over 1985
and in Jan-June 1987 were £492m an 11% increase over the same
period in 1986.
2.
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The UK's share of the Hong Kong market has declined gradually
in recent years.
At end-1986 it was 3.4%, and in Jan-May 1987 was
3.2%. The UK is the sixth largest supplier. Our principal exports are capital goods: power generating equipment; electrical machinery, vehicles (buses and rail cars). The UK has traditionally performed
well in Hong Kong's project sector: the Castle Peak power stations
were built by GEC (with Babcock); Babcock built the Town Gas plants (phase 1); and GEC and Metro-Cammell worked in unison on the Mass
Transit Railway. More recently Davy Morris won an order to supply
cranes for the container port. The UK also sells leather and fur in
significant quantities.
3.
Bilateral trade is in favour of Hong Kong. UK imports from
Hong Kong in 1986 were £1,531m, giving Hong Kong a surplus of £570m. Imports from Hong Kong in Jan-June 1987 were 640m a 12% increase
over the same period in 1986.
4.
Within the EC the UK is Hong Kong's most important trading
partner, followed by the FRG.
5.
UK companies (banks, accountants, insurance brokers and solicitors) have a large presence in Hong Kong's "invisibles"
sector. Revenue accruing to the UK from "invisibles" is estimated to be approximately equal to the value of the UK's visible export to
Hong Kong.
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