ENG-1991 — Page 115

INDUSTRY AND TRADE

Exports

Clothing remained the largest component of domestic exports, valued at $75,834 million or 33 per cent of the total. Exports of miscellaneous manufactured articles consisting mainly of jewellery, goldsmiths' and silversmiths' wares, plastic toys and dolls, and plastic articles were valued at $24,318 million, representing 11 per cent of domestic exports. Electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances mainly of household-type appliances, transistors and diodes amounted to $19,380 million or eight per cent of the total. Photographic apparatus, equipment, supplies and optical goods, watches and clocks were valued at $19,077 million (eight per cent of the total). Domestic exports of office machines and automatic data- processing equipment valued at $18,292 million, contributed another eight per cent to the total. Other important exports included textiles (eight per cent) as well as telecommuni- cations and sound recording and reproducing apparatus and equipment (seven per cent).

The direction and level of Hong Kong's export trade is much influenced by economic conditions and commercial policies in major overseas markets. In 1991, 48 per cent of all domestic exports went to the United States and the European Economic Community. The largest market was the United States ($62,870 million or 27 per cent of the total), China ($54,404 million or 24 per cent), Germany ($19,318 million or eight per cent) and the United Kingdom ($13,706 million or six per cent). Domestic exports to Japan and Singapore increased to $11,666 million and $8,794 million respectively. Other important markets were Taiwan, the Netherlands, Canada and France.

Re-exports

Re-exports showed a very significant increase in 1991, accounting for 70 per cent of the combined total of domestic exports and re-exports. Principal commodities re-exported were: miscellaneous manufactured articles ($71,128 million); clothing ($63,700 million); textiles ($58,533 million); telecommunications and sound recording and reproducing apparatus and equipment ($45,079 million) electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances ($43,469 million) as well as footwear ($23,502 million). The main origins of these re-exports were China, Japan, the United States and the Republic of Korea. Largest re-export markets were China, the United States, Germany, Japan and Taiwan.

External Commercial Relations

Hong Kong possesses full autonomy in the conduct of its external commercial relations. The Governor has been formally entrusted with executive authority to conduct external relations on behalf of Hong Kong, namely to conclude and implement trade agreements, whether bilateral or multilateral, with states, regions and international organisations and to conduct all other aspects of external commercial relations. Hong Kong is a contracting party to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the basic aim of which is to liberalise world trade and protect the most-favoured-nation principle. GATT is the cornerstone of Hong Kong's external trade relations, while the Multi-Fibre Arrangement (MFA), which aims at the orderly development and expansion of international trade in textiles, provides the framework within which Hong Kong negotiates bilateral restraint agreements with textiles importing countries.

The Hong Kong Government, which pursues a free trade policy, is one of the best examples of GATT principles in action. The success of the policy is evidenced by the steady rise in the value and sophistication of Hong Kong's exports in recent years. Within the

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