TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1982
OFFICE EQUIPMENT PRODUCTION RISES
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THE DIRECTOR OF INDUSTRY, MR PETER TSAO TODAY (TUESDAY) CALLED ON MANUFACTURERS TO CONSIDER THE POSSIBILITY OF SETTING UP FACTORIES FOR PRODUCING OFFICE EQUIPMENT IN HONG KONG.
ADDRESSING THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE 13TH BUSINESS EFFICIENCY EXHIBITION ORGANISED BY THE HONG KONG OFFICE EQUIPMENT ASSOCIATION, MR TSAO NOTED THAT OVER THE YEARS, MANY MANUFACTURING ESTABLISHMENTS HAD BEEN SET UP IN HONG KONG PRODUCING OFFICE EQUIPMENT, A ROUGH ESTIMATE SHOWED THAT ABOUT 60 PER CENT OF THEM WERE ESTABLISHED IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS.
MR TSAO SAID IN THE PAST, SUCH ESTABLISHMENTS CONCENTRATED IN THE PRODUCTION OF ELECTRONIC CALCULATORS, RECENT TREND HAS HOWEVER INDICATED THAT THEY ARE BEGINNING TO DIVERSIFY INTO MANUFACTURING COMPUTERS AND PHOTOCOPYING MACHINES. AS A RESULT COMPUTERS AND PHOTOCOPYING MACHINES NOW FEATURE PROMINENTLY IN HONG KONG'S DOMESTIC EXPORTS.
*OF HONG KONG'S TOTAL DOMESTIC EXPORTS OF OFFICE EQUIPMENT VALUED AT OVER $500 MILLION IN 1981, 30 PER CENT WERE SUCH PRODUCTS. AS AN EXPORT EARNER. SUCH PRODUCTS NOW RANK AS EQUAL WITH ELECTRONIC CALCULATORS, WHICH HAD FOR A LONG TIME DOMINATED THE EXPORT SCENE.
+THE INDUSTRY DEPARTMENT WHICH CO-ORDINATES ALL INDUSTRIAL INVESTMENT PROMOTION ACTIVITIES HAS IDENTIFIED OFFICE EQUIPMENT AS AMONG THOSE PRODUCTS MOST SUITED TO BE PRODUCED IN HONG KONG, SAID MR TSAO.
+ALREADY SEVEN FACTORIES WITH OVERSEAS INTEREST HAVE BEEN SET UP IN HONG KONG FOR THE PRODUCTION OF OFFICE EQUIPMENT. MANY MORE OVERSEAS COMPANIES HAVE EXPRESSED THEIR INTERESTS IN SETTING UP FACILITIES HERE FOR MANUFACTURING PRODUCTS IN THIS FIELD. FOUR OF THESE ARE EXPECTED TO BE SET UP IN HONG KONG WITHIN THE NEXT TWO YEARS.+
IN 1971, HONG KONG IMPORTED A TOTAL OF $90 MILLION WORTH OF OFFICE EQUIPMENT, AND TEN YEARS LATER, INCREASED THIS TO $920 MILLION.
APART FROM THE SUBSTANTIAL INCREASE IN IMPORTED EQUIPMENT, THE PRODUCT COMPOSITION OF OFFICE EQUIPMENT HAS UNDERGONE SIGNIFICANT CHANGES, THE MOST SIGNIFICANT WAS THAT COMPUTERS, WHICH WERE NOT A SIGNIFICANT ITEM OF IMPORT DURING THE EARLY 70'S, BECAME A MAJOR ITEM IN THE EARLY 80'S. IN 1981, COMPUTERS REPRESENTED OVER 50 PER CENT OF OFFICE EQUIPMENT IMPORTS.
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