INDUSTRY AND TRADE
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were the USA ($58,987 million or 26 per cent of the total); China ($64,239 million or
28 cent); Germany ($14,430 million or 6.2 per cent); and the United Kingdom ($10,771 million or 4.8 per cent). Domestic exports to Japan and Singapore increased to $9,603 million and $11,447 million, respectively. Other important markets were Taiwan, Canada, the Netherlands and France.
Re-exports
Re-exports showed a very significant increase in 1993 primarily because of China's significant economic development and the continued growing importance of Hong Kong as an entrepôt for China. The gross total value of Hong Kong's re-exports accounted for 79 per cent of the combined total of domestic exports and re-exports. Principal commodities re-exported were miscellaneous manufactured articles ($109,460 million); clothing ($89,842 million); textiles ($70,476 million); telecommunications and sound recording and repro- ducing apparatus and equipment ($72,981 million); electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances ($69,262 million); as well as footwear ($47,891 million). The main origins of these re-exports were China, Japan, Taiwan, the USA and the Republic of Korea. The largest re-export markets were China, the USA, Japan, Germany and Taiwan.
The Industrial Scene
Hong Kong enjoys a worldwide reputation as a producer and exporter of manufactured consumer goods. Although the territory has a thriving construction industry and, as a major trading economy, has developed ship-building, ship repair and aircraft engineering industries, light manufacturing industries predominate. About 80 per cent of Hong Kong's manufactured products are exported, and clothing, electronic products, textiles, watches and clocks, and plastic products have for many years accounted for the bulk of this output. The major markets in 1993 for Hong Kong's manufactured exports, worth $223,027 million, were China (28.4 per cent), the United States of America (27 per cent), Germany (6.3 per cent), Singapore (5.1 per cent) and the United Kingdom (4.8 per cent).
Manufacturing developed on a large scale in Hong Kong in the 1950s. The territory's limited space precluded the development of heavy or land-intensive industries; its manufacturing industries were characterised by small-scale firms, mostly operating from premises in multi-storey buildings and manufacturing light consumer goods for export.
For many years, manufacturing was both the territory's largest employer and its most important economic sector. However, it lost this dominating position in the 1980s. Employment in the manufacturing sector fell from 904 709 in 1984 (41.7 per cent of total employment) to 508 133 (20.5 per cent) in 1993. Its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fell from 24.1 per cent in 1984 to 13.2 per cent in 1992. Over this period, manufacturers took advantage of China's open door policy to shift labour-intensive jobs into China, to reap the benefits of the lower land and labour costs there. Manufacturing is now the territory's second largest employer, and made the fourth largest contribution to the GDP after wholesale, retail and import/export trades, restaurants and hotels; financing, insurance, real estate and business services; and community, social and personal services in 1992.
There were 39 238 manufacturing establishments in Hong Kong in 1993, of which 34 383 employed fewer than 20 persons, and 37 415 fewer than 50 persons. The remaining 1 823 establishments accounted for about half of Hong Kong's total manufacturing employment.
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