6
Industry and Trade
INDUSTRY
In the last twelve years the pattern of Hong Kong's economy has changed, and industry, which before the Second World War was of secondary importance to the entrepôt trade, has assumed a dominant role; three-quarters of the Colony's total exports are now products manufactured or processed locally.
Hong Kong's first industries were in the nature of services allied to the development of the port. The earliest was naturally ship- building and repairing, the first locally built vessel, the 'Celestial' of 80 tons, being launched in 1843. Two sugar refineries were established, the first in 1878, the second in 1882, not so much to satisfy the needs of the then small local population, as the require- ments of ships' victualling officers. In 1885 a rope factory was started, again primarily to cater for the seafaring trade, and a cement factory was transferred to Hong Kong from Macau in 1899.
From time to time there were tentative efforts to set up new industries; a spinning mill was started in 1899 but closed down a few years later. Some industries, however, obtained a firm foothold; in 1902 the manufacture of rattanware began and in 1910 the knitting of cotton singlets and vests became established. These, although flourishing, went more or less unnoticed amid the Colony's growing entrepôt activities.
The First World War gave some impetus to the development of industry when the Colony was denied various manufactured goods from European sources, and the immediate post-war years also saw some expansion. A weaving factory, operating 30 hand looms, opened in 1922 and in 1927 the first flashlight factory came into being.
The Ottawa Agreements of 1932, under which Hong Kong products became entitled to Imperial (now Commonwealth) Preference, were the first real encouragement to local industry, enabling manufacturers to seek wider markets for their goods and