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Commerce and Industry

Domestic Exports

Jewellery, goldsmiths' and silversmiths' wares, and other articles of precious or semi-precious materials formed the largest component of domestic exports, valued at $7.6 billion or 13.8 per cent of the total value of domestic exports in 2014. Other major export items included plastics in primary and non-primary forms; machinery specialised for particular industries; and medicinal and pharmaceutical products.

The Mainland, the USA and Taiwan were Hong Kong's largest markets during the year, absorbing 42 per cent, 8.1 per cent and 5.4 per cent respectively of the total value of domestic exports.

Re-exports

In 2014, electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances, and electrical parts thereof worth $1,100.4 billion were the principal commodities re-exported (30.4 per cent of the total value of re-exports). This was followed by re-exports of telecommunications and sound recording and reproducing apparatus and equipment, which amounted to $718.2 billion (19.9 per cent of the total value of re-exports). The Mainland, Taiwan and Japan were the main origins of the re-exports, while the Mainland, the USA 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 continued to provide employment for 106,800 people (2.8 per cent of overall employment) in 2014.

Manufacturers of food products and beverages were the largest employers in the manufacturing sector as at December 2014, followed by employers in the printing and reproduction of recorded media industries. Chart 1 shows the breakdown of employment within the manufacturing sector as at December 2014.

Chart 1

Number of Persons Employed by the Manufacturing Sector as at December 2014

Others

32.1% (32,551)

Food products and beverages

27.7% (28,129)

Rubber and plastics products

(except furniture, toys, sports

goods and stationery)

2.3% (2,383)

Fabricated metal products

(except machinery and equipment)

2.9% (2,916)

Textiles

4% (4,035)

Electronics 4.1% (4,161)

Printing and reproduction

of recorded media

16% (16,240)

Pharmaceuticals, medicinal

chemical and botanical products 4.7% (4,759)

Wearing apparel

6.2% (6,306)

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