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INDUSTRY AND TRADE
printing and finishing of piecegoods, and the manufacture of all types of garments and made-up goods. The industry's exports during the year represented 53 per cent of the Colony's exports of domestic products. In all sectors of the textile industry, the manu- facture and processing of cotton goods predominates; wool, silk and artificial fibres take a secondary place. The cotton spinning mills, operating over 632,000 spindles, are among the most up- to-date in the world and first-class amenities are generally provided for workers. Cotton yarns counts range from 10's to 60's carded and combed in single or multiple threads. Production of all counts in 1963 was estimated at approximately 235 million pounds, the greater part of which was consumed by local weaving establish-
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ments.
In the piecegoods weaving section—which increased its capacity during the year to about 19,000 looms-grey cotton drill, canvas, shirting-poplins, ginghams and other bleached and dyed cloth and prints are the main items. Corduroy is also manufactured. Production of cotton piecegoods in 1963 was estimated at approx- imately 540 million square yards. Most of this was exported although there is an increasing tendency for the Colony's garment manufacturers to use local materials. Other products of the Colony's weaving industry are silk and rayon brocade of traditional Chinese design, woollen piecegoods, tapes, military webbing, lace, mosquito netting, cotton open mesh, carpets and rugs.
Development in the dyeing, printing and finishing of cotton textiles continued during the year. Multi-colour screen and roller printing, pre-shrinking by several processes under licence and polymerizing for the production of 'drip-dry' fabrics were under- taken for the local garment industry and for export.
An almost unlimited range and variety of garments are manufac- tured in Hong Kong, the most important being shirts. Embroidered blouses, underwear and nightwear, silk and brocade house and evening coats have a world-wide popularity in quality markets. Custom and mail order tailoring, principally of men's suits, has rapidly developed in recent years into an important branch of the industry. Suits of excellent cut and quality are exported all over the world. The Colony's knitting mills produce towels, tee-shirts, singlets, underwear and nightwear, swimsuits, gloves, sweaters, socks and stockings in cotton, silk, wool, rayon and other fabrics.