ENG-2007 — Page 141

Commerce and Industry 101

by 18.9 per cent to $109.1 billion while re-exports rose by 10.8 per cent to $2,578.4 billion compared with the previous year. Imports increased by 10.3 per cent to $2,868.0 billion. (The appendices provide summary statistics of external trade.)

Hong Kong's largest trading partner in 2007 was the Mainland, followed by the United States (US) and Japan. In 2007, Hong Kong was the world's 12th largest trading entity in terms of value of merchandise trade.

Imports

Electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances, and their electrical parts constituted the largest share of total imports in 2007 at $740.1 billion, followed by telecommunications and sound recording and reproducing apparatus and equipment ($385.4 billion) and office machines and automatic data processing machines ($249.4 billion).

In 2007, the Mainland, Japan and Taiwan were Hong Kong's major suppliers, accounting for 46.4 per cent, 10.0 per cent and 7.2 per cent of the total value of imports respectively.

Domestic Exports

Articles of apparel and clothing accessories continued to be the largest component of domestic exports, valued at $38.9 billion or 35.6 per cent of the total value of domestic exports in 2007. Other major export items included electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances, and their electrical parts, telecommunications and sound recording and reproducing apparatus and equipment.

The Mainland, the US and the United Kingdom were Hong Kong's largest markets during the year, absorbing 37.2 per cent, 21.9 per cent and 5.4 per cent of the total value of domestic exports respectively.

Re-exports

In 2007, electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances, and their electrical parts worth $642.6 billion were the principal commodities re-exported (24.9 per cent of the total value of re-exports). This was followed by the re-exports of telecommunications and sound recording and reproducing apparatus and equipment, which amounted to $428.1 billion (16.6 per cent of the total value of re-exports). The Mainland, Japan and Taiwan were the main origins of the re-exports, while the Mainland, the US and Japan were the main destinations.

The Manufacturing Sector

With the expansion of manufacturing activities offshore since the 1980s, Hong Kong has evolved into a strategic control centre with an increasingly globalised production network. In spite of Hong Kong's economic restructuring, the manufacturing sector remained an important sector of the economy, providing employment to 170 000 people (4.9 per cent of overall employment) in 2007.

The printing and publishing industry was the largest employer in the manufacturing sector as at December 2007, followed by the food and beverages