TNAG-0939-FCO40-1158-Visit-of-John-Nott--Secretary-of-State-for-Trade--to-Hong-Ko-1981 — Page 15

Reference

plied in respect of goods from HK. Mr Nightingale asked whether the outerwear industry was "trading up". Mr Cheong said that the whole of the HK garment industry had to trade up in order to survive competition from newer, lower-cost producers. Mr Regan asked whether the industry bought significant quantities of artificial suedes and velours. Mr Cheong said that some of these fabrics were already sourced from the UK. Mr Nightingale asked whether the trading up of the industry meant that more linings would be used; and if So,

what fabric they would be made of. Mr Cheng replied that he expected there to be a considerable market for nylon taffeta linings of high quality: the cost of the lining was so smal) as a proportion of the garment price that cost was not a crucial factor. But linings would have to be rapidly available. Mr Cheong suggested that there could be advantage in establishing a lining finishing plant in HK. Mr Harrison asked whether the HK suit industry had any plans to move into heavier, more highly patterned fabrics. Mr Tien pointed out that the industry had to concentrate its efforts on the US market, where those fabrics in general were less popular; was, however, a good market in certain specialised fabrics eg, Harris Tweed. Mr Cheong added that HK did not have a substantial mass-production suit industry; it did, however, have a well-established quality suit industry, which was a potential buyer of large quantities of British cloth. At the end of the meeting the attached lists were circulated by the HK side.

there

CODE 18-7

SS 8/78

1

4

Page 15Page 16