INDUSTRY AND TRADE
91
Exports to China have fallen steadily since 1951 and at $123.4 million have reached the lowest level yet. Exports of manufactured fertilizers fell from $36 million in 1956 to $9.8 million in 1957.
The division of the Colony's exports into re-exports and exports of domestic products is not complete, but details of a wide range of Hong Kong products are recorded separately in the Trade Statistics. The value of these products exported in 1957 was $793.9 million compared with $782.6 million in 1956, and represented 26.3% of the Colony's total exports. The map between pages 92 and 93 illustrates who were the customers for these local products. The United Kingdom, Indonesia, Malaya and the United States were the most important customers, taking together nearly 50% of the total. The most important items of export were cotton piece- goods, cotton yarns, shirts, enamelled household utensils, and footwear.
Compared with 1956 the most significant increases in exports in respect of countries were 19.1% to the United States, 13.2% to the Philippines, and 12.3% to the United Kingdom; and in respect of commodities-cotton piece- goods, 57.3%; shirts, 11.7%; cotton yarn, 11.1%. Decreases were recorded in respect of cotton singlets, 38.5%; and foot- wear, 12.4%.
The trend of the Colony's trade by value and volume for the years 1948 to 1957 is illustrated by the graphs facing pages 92 and 93. Tables showing the value of imports from and exports to the principal countries trading with the Colony and the main commodities concerned, with com- parative figures for 1955, 1956 and 1957, are at Appendices VII, VIII, IX, and X. Appendix XI shows the values of exports of Hong Kong's principal products.
Hong Kong sent a delegation to the ninth session of the Committee on Industry and Trade of the Economic Com- mission for Asia and the Far East held in Bangkok in March 1957. This session was followed immediately by the