ENG-1948 — Page 83

Cotton Spinning.

con-

Of the twelve mills so far planned for Hong Kong seven came into production in 1948 with a total of 90,000 spindles. By the end of the year they were producing at a rate of 9.6 million pounds of yarn per year or rather less than 50% of potential local sumption by weavers and knitters. Whereas in the first half of the year the greater part of yarn produced was used in local textile production, the relatively plentiful local supply of Chinese and other yarns and the comparatively better prices in foreign markets led to a considerable volume of export sales later in the year. The principal markets were Pakistan, Saigon, Batavia and Bangkok; small quantities went even further west. Mills have concentrated on the lower counts but are also equipped to produce medium

counts.

Weaving and Knitting.

These industries have had to meet difficult times and keen competition throughout the year. The return of Japanese textiles in quantity to Far Eastern and African markets has had a particularly depressing effect. There have been a few brighter periods to relieve the general gloom, but on the whole the industry has lost money on the year's operations. The larger mills have at times been forced to accept orders at below cost in order to keep running. A few mills affiliated with spinning mills are putting in modern automatic looms, but on the whole the industry suffers from the handicap of outmoded machinery. Its other major handicap, the relatively high cost of yarn in non-producing areas, may however have been solved with the local introduction of spinning.

Building Materials.

It had been feared that the building programme would be seriously impeded by shortage of building steel, which had been obtained only in negligible quantities since the end of the war, but a Hong Kong firm evolved a process for rolling building bars from old ship's plates (of which a plentiful supply was available from sunken vessels in Hong Kong waters) and improvised the necessary machinery. During 1948 they were producing at a rate of 18,000 tons a year and hoped to increase this to 28,000 tons in 1949. Two other producers started on a small scale towards the end of the year.

Brick production has been considerably increased with the installation of a tunnel kiln, while cement production has been maintained at 4,000 tons per month.

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