PRODUCTION AND MARKETING
printing on porcelain and enamel was also begun. A steady expansion of activity in the important cotton spinning and enamelware industries was recorded.
The accelerated rate of industrial development since the war was due in part to the arrival in the Colony of capital and skilled labour from the Chinese mainland. The population having increased so rapidly between 1945 and 1949, manufacturers had not only a large reservoir of efficient and willing labour to draw upon, but also a considerable local market for certain of their products. Many of the new industries which have grown up since the war have catered particularly for the large markets of South East Asia.
The outbreak of war in Korea in 1950 quickly led to a marked decline in the Colony's traditional entrepôt trade. It has therefore become increasingly important that local industry should be encouraged and that new products and new markets should be developed, in order to provide employment for a population which, already seriously overcrowded, is increasing by more than 50,000 each year.
Although there was a drop of 11% in the Colony's trade in 1954, exports of locally manufactured products made a further gain, being valued at $681,878,981 as compared with $635,287,904 for 1953. The increase by $46,591,077 does not reflect the full measure of the gain, since the prices of many local products declined. Exports of local products, which were about 10% of the Colony's total exports in 1947, rose to over 30% of total exports in 1954.
This steady development in local industry was achieved in the face of continuing restrictions on trade
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