ENG-1994 — Page 127

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

foodstuffs. Taiwan ranked third as a supplier of imports, providing nine per cent, followed by the USA, Singapore, Korea, Germany and the UK.

Domestic Exports

Clothing remained the largest component of domestic exports, valued at $73,233 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 $19,454 million, representing nine per cent of domestic exports. Exports of office machines and automatic data-processing equipment, valued at $17,681 million, contributed another eight per cent. Electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances mainly for household use, transistors and diodes, at $25,241 million, made up 11 per cent of the total. Photographic apparatus, equipment and supplies, optical goods, and watches and clocks were valued at $15,900 million or seven per cent of the total. Other important exports included textiles (seven per cent) as well as telecommunications and sound recording and reproducing apparatus and equipment (five per cent).

The pattern and level of Hong Kong's export trade is highly susceptible to the economic conditions and commercial policies in major overseas markets. In 1994, 43 per cent of all domestic exports went to the USA and the European Union. The largest markets were the USA ($62,049 million or 28 per cent of the total); China ($61,426 million or 28 per cent); Germany ($12,718 million or six per cent); and Singapore ($12,321 million or six per cent). Other important markets were Japan, the UK, Taiwan and the Netherlands.

Re-exports

Re-exports showed a very significant increase in 1994, primarily because of China's buoyant economic development and the continued importance of Hong Kong as an entrepôt for China. The gross total value of Hong Kong's re-exports accounted for 81 per cent of the combined total of domestic exports and re-exports. The principal commodities re-exported were miscellaneous manufactured articles ($122,508 million); clothing ($93,491 million); textiles ($82,315 million); telecommunications and sound recording and reproducing apparatus and equipment ($100,262 million); electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances ($84,189 million); and footwear ($53,314 million). The main origins of these re- exports were China, Japan, Taiwan, the USA and Korea. The largest re-export markets were China, the USA, Japan, Germany and the UK.

The Manufacturing Sector

For many years, manufacturing was both the territory's largest employer and its most important economic sector. It lost this dominating position, however, in the 1980s as manufacturers took advantage of China's open door policy to shift labour-intensive jobs into China, reaping the benefits of the lower land and labour costs there. Between 1984 and 1994, employment in manufacturing dropped from 904 709 (41.7 per cent of total employ- ment) to 438 382 (17.1 per cent). From 1984 to 1993, its contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) fell from 24.3 per cent to 11.4 per cent. Manufacturing is now the territory's second largest employer, and made the fourth largest contribution to the GDP after wholesale, retail and import and export trades, restaurants and hotels; financing, insurance, real estate and business services; and community, social and personal services in 1993.

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