XN000022-1982-11-10 — Page 6

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1982

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+INITIALLY IT WILL SERVE INDUSTRY'S NEEDS IN RESPECT OF ELECTRONIC AND ELECTRICAL STANDARDS AND CALIBRATION. CONSIDERATION IS, HOWEVER, BEING GIVEN TO EXPANSION OF ACTIVITIES INTO OTHER FIELDS OF MEASUREMENT.

HE NOTED THAT ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION BY INDUSTRY A FAIR MEASURE OF ACTIVITY - WAS SLIGHTLY DOWN IN THE YEAR ENDING SEPTEMBER 1982 WHEN COMPARED WITH THE SAME PERIOD A YEAR EARLIER.

+BUT THE DECLINE IS ALMOST ENTIRELY IN THE TROUBLED TEXTILE MILL SECTOR, THE HEAVIEST ELECTRICITY USER, WHERE PRODUCTION HAS DECLINED TO ABOUT 75 PER CENT OF WHAT IT WAS A DECADE AGO, MOST OTHER KEY INDUSTRIES HAVE RECORDED REAL GROWTH IN CONSUMPTION THIS YEAR.

+ IN THE SIGNIFICANT GARMENT SECTOR, QUOTA UTILISATION FOR THE FIRST NINE MONTHS OF 1982 IN THE US MARKET WAS 72.1 PER CENT COMPARED WITH 73.3 PER CENT FOR THE SAME PERIOD IN 1981. FOR THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY, IT WAS 49.8 PER CENT COMPARED WITH 52.6 PER CENT FOR THE FIRST THREE QUARTERS OF 1981.

+EXPORT_PROSPECTS ARE HARD TO PREDICT, BUT IT WAS ENCOURAGING TO HEAR MR STEPHEN CHEONG'S VIEW THAT THE WORST IS BEHIND US. ORDER BOOKS ARE PRESENTLY SHORT BUT FAIRLY FULL AND I WOULD HAZARD A GUESS THAT WE SHALL BE ABLE TO LOOK BACK NEXT YEAR AND SEE THAT THE THIRD QUARTER OF 1982 WAS WHERE WE TOUCHED BOTTOM,+ MR DORWARD ADDED.

REFERRING TO THE CRITICAL TEXTILE NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE EEC WHICH ARE TO RESUME IN BRUSSELS NEXT WEEK, MR DORWARD SAID THE COMMUNITY'S DEMAND FOR CUTBACKS FROM HONG KONG AND OTHER SO-CALLED DOMINANT SUPPLIERS ON FIVE CATEGORIES REPRESENTED NEARLY 60 PER CENT OF OUR TOTAL TEXTILE AND CLOTHING EXPORTS TO THAT MARKET.

+ IN OUR VIEW THE COMMUNITY'S DEMANDS ARE INCONSISTENT WITH THE PROVISIONS OF THE MULTI-FIBRE ARRANGEMENT WHICH GOVERN THESE NEGOTIATIONS. ACCEPTANCE OF THESE DEMANDS WOULD NOT ONLY RESULT IN A SIZEABLE REDUCTION OF OUR EXPORT EARNINGS FROM THE COMMUNITY MARKET, BUT WOULD SET A DAMAGING PRECEDENT FOR OTHERS TO FOLLOW AND, BY CONDONING THIS DISREGARD FOR A FREELY NEGOTIATED CODE OF DISCIPLINE, WOULD PUT THE FABRIC OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE LAW UNDER GREAT STRAIN.

+IRONICALLY, THIS HARSH ATTITUDE TO THIS, THE FREEST OF MARKETS IS COINCIDING WITH GREAT EMPHASIS BEING PLACED IN COMMUNITY COUNTRIES ON THE NEED FOR RECIPROCAL MARKET ACCESS IF THEY ARE TO MAINTAIN THE IR LIBERAL TRADE POLICIES.

+ I HOPE IT WILL BE RECOGNISED THAT THEIR INTERNATIONAL CREDIBILITY IS UNDER STRAIN UNLESS THEY SHOW SOME RECOGNITION OF THE FREE AND SUBSTANTIAL MARKET WHICH HONG KONG PROVIDES,+ MR DORWARD CONCLUDED.

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