INDUSTRY AND TRADE
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party to consider the practicality and desirability of industrial estates specifically for land-intensive industries. By the end of the year the working party had drawn up detailed plans and cost estimates and had completed its consideration of most of its terms of reference, including the legal aspects of the proposal.
Textiles
The textiles industry maintained its predominant position in Hong Kong's economy, accounting for 46 per cent of its industrial labour force and 50 per cent of its domestic exports. Raw materials shortages and fluctuating prices, competition from newly industrialising countries and the running down of inventories by buyers, restrained the growth of the industry in 1974.
The spinning sector, operating some 922,340 spindles, replaced a considerable, amount of equipment in 1973 and is among the most modern in the world. In 1974 production of cotton yarn was 328 million pounds, compared with 286 million pounds in 1973. Having overcome difficulties in securing supplies of raw cotton and man-made fibres in early 1974 the sector was beset with problems of poor markets and strong competition from neighbouring countries. Most mills were consequently-obliged to operate below full capacity during the second half of the year. The production of man-made fibre and cotton/man-made fibre blended yarns reached only 73 million pounds, representing a decrease of 15 per cent over 1973. The production of woollen and worsted yarn stood at 14 million pounds compared to 22 million pounds in 1973. Most of the locally produced yarns of all fibres were consumed by Hong Kong's
weavers.
The weaving sector, operating 23,821 looms, produced 805 million square yards of fabrics of various fibres and blends in 1974 compared with 853 million square yards in 1973. The bulk of the production, 65 per cent, was of cotton.
In the knitting sector exports of fabrics registered a decrease of 3.7 per cent to 15.7 million pounds, of which 62 per cent was of man-made fibres, 37.9 per cent of cotton and 0.1 per cent of wool. A substantial part of the production of knitted fabrics of all fibres was used by local clothing manufacturers.
The problems of the spinning and weaving sectors were reflected in the finishing sector, which in addition suffered disproportionately from the greatly increased cost of oil. This sector, which comprises 344 factories, nevertheless continued to handle an increasing range of textile materials for bleaching, dyeing, printing and finishing.
The manufacture of clothing continues to be the largest sector of the textiles industry, with 4,348 firms, employing 171,279 workers producing a wide variety of quality items including fashion woven and knitted dresses and ready-to-wear suits. Total domestic exports of clothing in 1974 amounted to $8,752 million, an increase of 17 per cent over 1973.
Other Light Industries
The continued growth of competition from Asian countries remains a factor in motivating local industrialists to modernise their operations and to move into more
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