HONG KONG DEPARTMENT
ROOM 271,
KING CHARLES STREET.
H.K.
ES
19
n stewart y to curb
tiles
18
?
Textile buyers yesterday forecast an increase in the value of goods bought from Hongkong, following the imposition of the 15 per cent tariff on cotton cloth and the 17 per cent tariff on garments which will be introduced in 1972.
British Home Stores, the £59m. store group that has done more for the garment trade in Hongkong than any other single buyer, believes that the tariffs will encourage the greater use of synthetic fibres in the Hong- kong industry--which is already regarded as a quality trade.
The store chain, which is making major strides in clothing and house- hold textiles, expects the volume of goods coming from the colony to show no decline from present levels, while sophisticated blends such as cotton polyester will increase the value of imports.
at
from Hongkong were valued £20.3m.. an increase of nearly £3m. on the previous year.
Small buyers, too, were yesterday saying that they were unlikely to be deterred by tarifl's from placing orders in Hongkong.
One major reason is the acute shortage of garment manufacturing capacity in this country able to handle relatively small order.. Peter Cowen, a director of Ken Barrington, suppliers of sports clothes to store groups and specialist dealers, told Business News yesterday that even if he bought cloth from Lancashire he could not get it made up in this country.
We are already spending £160.000 a year in Hongkong ", he said, * and this is going to increase," Ken Bar- rington is currently buying about 120,000 pairs of football shorts, 15.000 pairs of tennis shorts, and In 1968 total imports of textile 20,000 pairs of trousers, much of it in yarn, fabrics and made-up articics the Colony.
.
Mr. Cowen said there appeared to be an acute shortage of labour in the garment trade in this country especially in the traditional areas of London's East End, Leeds and North- ern Ireland. Even with seven to eight weeks' shipment it was more efficient to deal with Hongkong.
One reason for the shortage of making up capacity is the degree of concentration in the garment trade. Groups such as English Calico, Viyella and Courtaulds themselves control weaving, finishing and gar- ment manufacturing in one vertical chain, with capacity at any one point pre-empted by the demands of the other activities.
The proposed rates of duty for the Commonwealth preference area are approximately 64 per cent on yarn. 15 per cent on cloth, and 17 per cent on most garments. The Government is prepared to consider the use of quotas only if total imports rise higher than above present levels and if the market is disrupted in particu- lar products.
Lancashire producers take stock
By R. W. SHAKESPEARE, Northern Industrial Correspondent
The Lancashire textile industry has now had its last doubts about the present Government's attitude towards the industry removed. By supporting a Commonwealth tariff the Government have responded to the clamour for special pro- tection that has been coming from the industry for many years.
Now that the Government's views are known discussion among textile leaders centres on where the indus- try goes from here, and a number of basic points begin to emerge.
First it looks as if Lancashire will have to accept that the level of imports. currently running af roughly half the total home con- sumption, is unlikely to show any sharp drop. The most that can be hoped from the tariff, most people agree, is that import levels will be stabilized, leaving home producers free to consolidate and perhaps in- crease their share of the market and, hopefully, push up their export sales.
Some people, however, take a much more pessimistic view on im- ports. They argue that when the quota system ends, Britain's door will still he wide open to many of the
world's producers, those in the Efta countries for instance, while, they claim, a Commonwealth tariff at the proposed level will do nothing to reduce the flow of cheap textile goods and may, in fact, lead to an increase in competition from these sources through price reductions.
The second major talking point among textile men is the implica- tion involved in the Government's standstill on mergers between the big groups.
If the Textile Council's forecast of a significant reduction in the num- ber of companies and units over the next five years is to be translated into fact, many mergers between smaller firms will have to take place.
The consultants appointed by the Board of Trade to assist with this reorganization are reported to have been busily engaged in a long series of talks with many organizations and announcements of direct negotiation between individual companies can be expected to follow in due course,
These announcements are being awaited with some anxiety by the textile unions since, ironically at a time when there is a labour short- age in the mills, they will mark the start of the rundown of the indus- try's labour force to some 55,000.
There is now little doubt that in the climate created by the Govern- ment's decisions, coupled with the
continuing trend to new processes, such as knitted fabrics, and new fibres, the bulk of the home indus- try will in future be centred on big new long run, multi-shift units.
The Government plan was criti- cized in Manchester vesterday by the 660-firm strong British Textile Employers' Association,.
A statement said: "It is felt that that there should have been a limited transitional period with both quotas and tariffs in operation."
Hongkong: Reaction to the Board of Trade's announcement has been bitter. Local indusrialists resent the fact that after a decade of vol- untary restraint under the quota sys- tem the Board of Trade has decided to impose tariff restrictions without prior consultations. Several indas- trial leaders have described the news as a shock and a disappointmem “.
•
Delhi: India is expected to oppose any altemp to revoke the previous Indo-British trade agreements as en- visaged in yesterday's measures to protect the cotton textile industry in This was the United Kingdom. made clear by business and official sources here after the Government and textile industry reacted sharply to Board of Trade's statement which has caused "surprise and disappoint- ment ".
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.