MONDAY, MARCH 9, 1987
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+FOURTH, ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE ADOPTION OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES RELEVANT TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY NAMELY APPLICATION SPECIFIC INTEGRATED CIRCUITS (ASIC) DESIGN AND SURFACE MOUNTING+.
MR HO SAID IN RECOGNITION OF THE EMERGENCE OF ASIC AND THE NEED FOR SKILLED ASIC DESIGN ENGINEERS, THE GOVERNMENT WOULD BE LAUNCHING A SCHEME FOR THE TRAINING OF ENGINEERS IN ASIC DESIGN.
+UNDER THIS SCHEME, THE GOVERNMENT WILL PROVIDE, THROUGH THE VOCATIONAL TRAINING COUNCIL, A TRAINING GRANT TO ASSIST WITH THE COST OF OVERSEAS TRAINING IN THIS FIELD.+
AS REGARDS SURFACE MOUNTING, THE HONG KONG PRODUCTIVITY COUNCIL HAD BEEN COMMISSIONED TO UNDERTAKE A STUDY AIMED AT ESTABLISHING THE COMMERCIAL VIABILITY OF SURFACE MOUNT TECHNOLOGY (SMT) FOR HONG KONG'S ELECTRONICS MANUFACTURERS AND THE MEASURES THEY WOULD NEED TO TAKE TO OVERCOME THE INEVITABLE INITIAL PROBLEMS OF APPLYING THIS TECHNOLOGY, MR HO SAID.
HE SAID THAT WHILE IT WAS GRATIFYING TO NOTE THAT MORE THAN TWO DOZEN COMPANIES HAD ACQUIRED EITHER A ASIC DESIGN CAPABILITY OR SURFACE MOUNTING TECHNIQUES, THE WHOLE INDUSTRY WOULD HAVE TO RESPOND AND WORK TOGETHER TO BREAK THROUGH THE TECHNOLOGICAL BARRIERS BEFORE FUTURE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT COULD BE ACHIEVED.
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DECEMBER, 1986 PRICE, VOLUME MOVEMENTS OF EXTERNAL TRADE
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STATISTICS RELEASED TODAY (MONDAY) BY THE CENSUS AND STATISTICS DEPARTMENT INDICATED THAT THE VOLUME OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS GREW BY 16 PER CENT IN THE YEAR OF 1986 AS COMPARED WITH 1985, WHILE THE VOLUME OF RE-EXPORTS INCREASED BY 14 PER CENT. THERE WAS THUS AN OVERALL INCREASE OF 15 PER CENT IN THE VOLUME OF TOTAL EXPORTS IN 1986.
IMPORTS ALSO INCREASED BY 14 PER CENT IN VOLUME. OVER THE SAME PERIOD, BOTH THE PRICES OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS AND RE-EXPORTS ROSE BY 2 PER CENT, SO THAT FOR TOTAL EXPORTS PRICES ALSO INCREASED BY 2 PER CENT.
PRICES OF IMPORTS INCREASED BY 5 PER CENT. AS A RESULT, THE TERMS OF TRADE INDEX (EXPRESSED AS A RATIO OF THE TOTAL EXPORT PRICE INDEX TO THE IMPORT PRICE INDEX) FOR 1986 AS A WHOLE DROPPED BY 3 PER CENT.
/COMPARING DECEMBER