INDUSTRY AND TRADE
Textiles and Clothing
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Textiles and clothing make up Hong Kong's largest industry, accounting for about 38 per cent of the total domestic exports and about 42 per cent of industrial employment. Domestic exports of textiles and clothing in 1988 were valued at $82,860 million, compared with $81,326 million in 1987.
The spinning sector produces a variety of yarns. Cotton yarn remains the dominant product despite the increase in production of man-made fibre-blended yarns in recent years. The output of yarns of all fibres in 1988 was 222 million kilograms, compared with 233 million kilograms in 1987. Most of the yarn produced were used locally.
The weaving sector, with 17 278 looms, produced 848 million square metres of woven fabrics of various fibres and blends, compared with 889 million square metres in 1987. The bulk of the production - 95 per cent
95 per cent - was of cotton. A major proportion of the locally woven and finished fabrics was purchased by local clothing manufacturers.
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The knitting sector exported 66 million kilograms of knitted fabrics in 1988 of which 21 per cent was of man-made fibres or blended cotton man-made fibres, and 74 per cent was of cotton - compared with 64 million kilograms in 1987. A large quantity of knitted fabric of all fibres was also used by local clothing manufacturers.
The finishing sector provides sophisticated support facilities to the spinning, weaving and knitting sectors. It handles a large amount of textile fabrics and yarns for bleaching, dyeing, printing and finishing. The processes include yarn texturising, mercerising multi-colour roller, rotary and screen printing, heat transfer printing, sanforising, stone-wash, acid- wash, permanent pressing, polymerising, shearing, napping, glazing and schreinering.
Hong Kong is one of the world's leading suppliers of clothing. The clothing industry is also the largest single sector of Hong Kong's manufacturing industry, employing some 286 221 workers or about 34 per cent of industrial employment. Domestic exports of clothing in 1988 were valued at $67,309 million, compared with $65,321 million in 1987.
Electronics
The electronics industry is the second largest export-earner after clothing. Domestic exports of electronics products in 1988 were valued at $55,561 million, compared with $42,048 million in 1987. The industry comprises 1939 establishments employing 109 677 workers. Well known for its ready adaptability to fast-changing consumer requirements, it produces a wide range of sophisticated and high quality products and components, such as radios, cassette recorders, hi-fi systems, CD players, television sets, electronic watches and clocks, heart-beat monitors, electronic toys and games, wired and cordless telephones with built-in memories and automatic dialing functions, modems, PABX, cellular phones, calculators, photocopying equipment, fax machines, microcomputers, disk drives, floppy disks, printers, switching power supplies, computer memory systems and add-on cards, read-write magnetic heads, and computer-aided design and testing equipment. It also produces multi-layer printed circuit boards, liquid crystal displays, quartz crystals, and semi-conductor devices, including integrated circuit wafers.
Watches and Clocks
Hong Kong is an important world exporter of watches and clocks. Domestic exports in 1988 were valued at $17,346 million compared with $13,856 million in 1987. The industry has 1 729 establishments employing 31 180 workers. Production includes both mechanical and electronic watches, clocks, watch cases, dials, metal watch bands, assembled watch movements and watch straps of various materials.