ENG-1979 — Page 238

THE MEDIA

169

tion is that top quality printing is available at substantial savings compared with other places, with first class distribution and communication facilities readily available.

While Hong Kong's imports of printed material in 1979 amounted to $127.5 million, its exports were valued at $398 million, compared with $99 million in 1971. Of the total volume exported, books and pamphlets made up 64 per cent with the remaining 36 per cent comprising newspapers, journals, periodicals, calendars, packing paper and labels.

In 1979 an estimated total of 3,500 book and periodical titles were published compared with 1,500 in 1975. Several publishers have established offices in Hong Kong to print top quality magazines which have an international circulation. Publications produced include the Far Eastern Economic Review, Asiaweek, The Asian Wall Street Journal, and the Asian editions of Time, Newsweek and more than 700,000 copies a month of Reader's Digest. The production of textbooks makes up a significant proportion of the number of book titles published. In contrast to the 1960s when nearly all English language textbooks were imported, Hong Kong publishers now meet approximately 80 per cent of the total local demand.

About one-quarter of Hong Kong's 1,880 printing firms are responsible for the bulk of production. They run highly efficient offset printing works operating with machinery imported mainly from West Germany and Japan. Many specialise in printing books, glossy magazines, textbooks, calendars and diaries; others concentrate on wrappings and industrial packaging. The standard of offset printing is high, with printing and illustrative production techniques comparing favourably with other important printing nations. Electronic colour-engraving machines are used and colour separation technique is good. Two and four-colour printing machines are used and leading printers have eight-colour rotary and web-offset machines. There is fully automated book-binding and finishing equip- ment. The other 75 per cent of printing firms use traditional hot metal typesetting and letterpress printing methods to produce small-scale printing such as letterheads, posters, wrappers and some textbooks.