INDUSTRY AND TRADE
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lathes, drapers, drill presses, polishing machines and textile knitting and warping machines.
Loans for Small Industry
One of the prominent features of local industry is that most factories operate on a small scale. At the beginning of 1973, there were more than 22,000 registered manu- facturing concerns, 98 per cent of which employed fewer than 200 workers. To provide medium-term financing at reasonable rates to small industrialists for the purchase of equipment and machines to improve their efficiency and output, a loan scheme was introduced in July 1972, by the Commerce and Industry Department, in conjunction with the banks and with the co-operation of the Hong Kong Productivity Centre. Loans approved since the inception of the scheme total $891,500, of which $781,500 was authorised in 1973. The scheme was modified in November 1973 with a view to making it more attractive to small industrialists, and it is hoped greater use will be made of it in future.
Industrial Investment Promotion
The Hong Kong Government welcomes overseas investment in local manufac- turing industry and the Commerce and Industry Department works closely with the Hong Kong Trade Development Council to attract such investment. The main joint effort for the year concerned outward missions of Hong Kong industrialists and officials which visited the United States, Britain, Denmark and the Federal Republic of Germany in May and June to explain the advantages of setting up manufacturing establishments in Hong Kong. This was followed by inward missions from Sweden and Britain in the latter part of the year to examine local investment possibilities.
At the end of 1973, there were at least 278 factories in Hong Kong either fully or partly owned by foreign interests. These establishments employed a total labour force of about 73,800 or 12 per cent of total employment in Hong Kong's manufacturing industry. The total investment involved was about $1,174 million. The main sources of overseas investment continued to be the United States, Japan, Britain, Australia and the Netherlands, the principal industries involved being textiles and electronics.
Industrial Land
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The year saw a continuing demand for industrial land, and a number of sites located in Chai Wan, Yau Tong Bay, Castle Peak and Tsuen Wan-Kwai Chung were sold by auction. In some cases the prices obtained at auction reached record levels. This was partly because of the significant demand for industrial land, but it was also influenced by the high level of activity and prices (particularly in relation to new listings) of shares on the various stock exchanges in the early part of the year. Prices of industrial land receded when the stock market boom collapsed, but remained significantly higher than prices paid last year.
In recent years the high cost of industrial land has tended to inhibit the establish- ment of industries which are economically attractive for Hong Kong at its present
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