16
INDUSTRY AND TRADE
and vegetables ($685 million). Imports of capital goods were valued at $6,500 million or 13 per cent of total imports. Imports of mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials were valued at $2,834 million -- six per cent of total imports.
Japan continued to be the principal supplier of imports in 1977, providing 24 per cent of the total. China came second with 17 per cent of total imports and 45 per cent of all imported food and live animals. The United States supplied 13 per cent of total imports. Other important sources were Taiwan, Singapore, Britain, South Korea, West Germany and Switzerland.
Domestic exports consisted almost entirely of manufactured goods. Clothing, the leader, accounted for 40 per cent of total domestic exports valued at $13,908 million. Miscellaneous manufactured articles mainly plastic toys and dolls, jewellery and goldsmith and silversmith wares, and plastic flowers - were valued at $6,001 million or 17 per cent of total domestic exports. Electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances mainly transistor radios, electronic components and parts for computers, transistors, semi-conductor integrated circuits and diodes were valued at $5,123 million or 15 per cent of total domestic exports. Textile yarn, fabrics, made-up articles and related products worth $2,649 million represented eight per cent of total domestic exports. Other light manufactured articles, such as watches and clocks, metal products, travel goods, footwear and electronic calculators, also were im- portant exports.
-
The direction and level of Hong Kong's export trade are influenced principally by economic conditions and commercial policies in its main overseas markets. In 1977, 64 per cent of all domestic exports went to the United States and the European Economic Community (EEC). The United States absorbed 39 per cent. But West Germany and Britain, Hong Kong's second and third largest overseas markets after the United States, both dropped by eight per cent. The decline was mainly caused by a fall in exports of clothing. Other important markets were Japan, Australia, Canada, Singapore, the Netherlands and Sweden. Growth of exports to members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) continued in 1977.
Re-exports during the year accounted for 22 per cent of the combined total of domestic exports and re-exports. The principal commodities re-exported were machinery and transport equipment; textiles and clothing; watches and clocks; diamonds; crude animal and vegetable materials; medicinal and pharmaceutical products; and dyeing, tanning and colouring materials. The main countries of origin of these re-exports were China, Japan and the United States. Japan was still the largest re-export market, followed by Singapore, Indonesia, the United States and Taiwan.
International Commercial Relations
Hong Kong's external commercial relations are conducted by the Trade, Industry and Customs Department within the framework of a basically free trade policy. Hong Kong practises, to the full, the rules of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and virtually the only restrictions maintained on trade are those required by international obligations. Most prominent among these are restraints on textile exports to most major trading partners. All these restraint arrangements come
Page 45Page 46