ENG-1955 — Page 82

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HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT

Metal Products. 399 factories, employing 17,780 workers. Products are very extensive, including

including enamelware, aluminiumware, vacuum flasks, needles, nails and screws, hurricane lamps, tin cans, umbrella ribs, and metal windows.

The most important single metal industry is enamelware, in which 32 factories, with 114 furnaces, are engaged. En- dangered by over-expansion since 1954, this industry rallied considerably towards the end of 1955. Principal destinations for Hong Kong enamelware are East and West Africa. Total exports in 1955 were valued at £3,527,660. The principal markets for aluminiumware, chiefly household utensils, are Vietnam, Malaya, Indonesia, Africa and the Philippines. Exports were valued at £610,249.

New ventures in metal products include the manufacture of cigarette lighters and underwater swimming apparatus.

Electric Appliances. Electric hand torches, or flashlights, are manufactured by 34 factories, employing about 5,600 workers. The high standard of workmanship in the industry has attracted keen demand from nearly every major country in the world, the principal buyers being the United States, India, Africa, the United Kingdom, Thailand and Malaya. Apart from many local brands, "Ray-O-Vac" and "Ever- Ready" torches are manufactured under licence. Seamless aluminium torches are a recent development. Exports amount- ed to 3,534,480 dozen, valued at £3,088,259.

Eight factories, employing over 850 workers, manufacture torch batteries, overseas demand for which is increasing. 5,002,960 dozen,

dozen, valued at £663,682, were exported, Indonesia, Malaya, Vietnam, Thailand, and African countries being the principal buyers. Radio batteries were manu- factured for the first time.

Thirty factories, employing about 800 workers, manufacture electric bulbs, appliances and the assembly of neon lights. Exports of bulbs amounted to 10,144,601 dozen, valued at £365,658.

Foodstaffs and Beverages. 323 factories, employing over 7,300 workers, are connected with the Colony's large food and beverage industry. The more important of these include 1 sugar refinery; 21 factories preserving and canning vegetables and fruits; 7 preserving ginger; 60 rice and wheat flour mills; 2 meat canning and preserving factories; 59 factories pressing vegetable oils and manufacturing bean curd, soya sauce and