5
Commerce and Industry
Domestic Exports
Jewellery, goldsmiths' and silversmiths' wares, and other articles of precious or semi-precious materials formed the largest component of domestic exports, valued at $8.5 billion or 15.6 per cent of the total value of domestic exports in 2013. Other major export items included plastics. in primary and non-primary forms; tobacco, manufactured and electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances, and electrical parts thereof.
The Mainland, the USA and Singapore were Hong Kong's largest markets during the year, absorbing 45.6 per cent, 9.9 per cent and 4.7 per cent respectively of the total value of domestic exports.
Re-exports
In 2013, electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances, and electrical parts thereof worth $995.1 billion were the principal commodities re-exported (28.4 per cent of the total value of re- exports). This was followed by re-exports of telecommunications and sound recording and reproducing apparatus and equipment, which amounted to $698 billion (19.9 per cent of the total value of re-exports). The Mainland, Taiwan and Japan were the main origins of the re- exports, while the Mainland, the USA and Japan were the main destinations.
The Manufacturing Sector
With the expansion of manufacturing activities offshore since the 1980s, Hong Kong has evolved into a strategic control centre with an increasingly globalised production network. In spite of Hong Kong's economic restructuring, the manufacturing sector continued to provide employment for 107,800 people (2.9 per cent of overall employment) in 2013.
Manufacturers of food products and beverages were the largest employers in the manufacturing sector as at December 2013, followed by employers in the printing and reproduction of recorded media industries. Chart 1 shows the breakdown of employment within the manufacturing sector as at December 2013.
Chart 1
Number of Persons Employed by the Manufacturing Sector as at December 2013
Others
31% (32,132)
Rubber and plastics products
(except furniture, toys, sports
goods and stationery)
2.2% (2,331)
Food products and beverages 26% (26,966)
Fabricated metal products
(except machinery and equipment) 3.1% (3,192)
Electronics
3.9% (4,067)
Textiles
4.5% (4,658)
Printing and reproduction
of recorded media
16.4% (17,043)
Pharmaceuticals, medicinal chemical and botanical products 4.6% (4,722)
87
Wearing apparel
8.3% (8,572)