ENG-1978 — Page 41

INDUSTRY AND TRADE

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Foreign Minister, Minister of International Trade and Industry, and the Secretary of State for External Economic Affairs.

Textiles and Clothing

The textiles and clothing industries are Hong Kong's largest, together employing about 44 per cent of the total industrial work-force and producing some 46 per cent of total domestic exports. The export performance of the spinning and weaving sectors improved slightly in 1978 in relation to 1977. Exports by the clothing sector improved over 1977 despite the more restrictive terms of Hong Kong's new bilateral textiles agreements with the European Economic Community and the United States, largely because market conditions in 1977 had been depressed. Total domestic exports in 1978 were valued at $40,711 million, compared with $35,004 million in 1977.

Production in the spinning sector was still below capacity in 1978 but the output of cotton yarn increased slightly from 169 million kilograms in 1977 to 172 million kilograms. Production of man-made fibre yarn and cotton/man-made fibre blended yarn was 48 million kilograms in 1978, compared with 39 million kilograms in 1977, and production of woollen and worsted yarn was four million kilograms, compared with 4.8 million kilograms the previous year. Most of the yarn produced was used by local weavers.

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The weaving sector, with 29,577 looms, produced 797 million square metres of woven fabrics of various fibres and blends, compared with 768 million square metres in 1977. As in previous years, the bulk of the production - 84 per cent

was of cotton. Much of the fabric produced was exported in the piece, but local clothing manufacturers also used large quantities of locally woven and finished fabrics.

of which 40 The knitting sector exported 9.3 million kilograms of knitted fabrics per cent were of man-made fibres or blended cotton/man-made fibres, and 59 per cent of cotton - compared with 7.9 million kilograms in 1977. In addition, a large quantity of knitted fabric of all fibres was used by local clothing manufacturers.

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The finishing sector provides sophisticated support facilities to the spinning, weaving and knitting sectors. It handles a large amount of textile fabrics for bleaching, dyeing, printing and finishing. The processes performed include, among others, yarn texturis- ing, multi-colour roller and screen printing, transfer printing, pre-shrinking, per- manent pressing and polymerising.

The manufacture of clothing is the largest sector of the industry, employing some 251,730 workers or about 31 per cent of the total industrial work-force. During the year the clothing sector continued to keep up with the latest trends in fashion. Hong Kong's domestic exports of clothing were valued at $15,709 million, compared with $13,908 million in 1977.

Other Light Industries

The electronics industry maintained its position as the second largest export-earner among Hong Kong's manufacturing industries. Domestic exports of electronic prod- ucts in 1978 were valued at $4,741 million, compared with $4,436 million in 1977. The industry comprises 793 factories employing 73,736 workers. It produces a wide range of products, including transistor radios, computer memory systems, electronic