Hong Kong Industrialist Aug Oct 2021

The textile, apparel, clothing and accessories industries together forms a major cluster in Hong Kong’s manufacturing sector. While most of the manufacturing processes have been relocated to the mainland China and Southeast Asia, Hong Kong remains the headquarter for many clothing manufacturers for their business development, product design, procurement and management. Under the pandemic, the European and US markets had come to a near standstill during the first half of 2020. The market demand for textile and apparel plummeted until the later half of the year. Hong Kong’s clothing exports slipped by almost one-third in value in the year. Fortunately, the global consumption market has been regaining momentum since early 2021. In parallel with the growing markets in the mainland China and Southeast Asia, the industry remains cautiously optimistic about its business growth. In the post-pandemic era, the industry still faces a couple of major challenges in their operations. Production lines in the Southeast Asia (including the Philippines, Vietnam, Myanmar and Thailand, etc.) have yet resumed normal operation due to local COVID-19 outbreak; some of the manufacturers have to complete the orders in the mainland China instead. As a relatively labour-intensive business, textile manufacturers must take forward tighter epidemic control and get staff members vaccinated to maintain stability of the production lines and bargaining power. Besides, the prices of raw materials have been surging lately with limited supply. Cotton prices have become unstable due to “Xinjiang cotton” dispute, where manufacturers may have to turn to other regions like India for supply. On the other hand, e-commerce is becoming a major consumer sales channel, especially for fast-moving consumer goods like fashion clothing products. In 2021, the sales volume of garments in the e-commerce business in mainland China has jumped 紡織成衣及服裝配飾行業在香港製造業中地 位舉足輕重，雖然大部份工序已遷到內地及 東南亞，但香港仍然是生產商發展業務、設 計及採購等的管理中心。在新冠肺炎疫情之 下，歐美市場在2020年上半年近乎陷入全 面停頓，對時裝產品市場需求銳減，直到下 半年方逐漸回暖，去年香港的服裝總出口值 仍大跌近三分之一。踏入2021年，傳統歐 美市場已逐漸復甦，加上中國內地及東南亞 的消費力日增，行業對前景仍然審慎樂觀。 在後疫情時期，港資服裝製造商面對不少 挑戰。現時東南亞（包括菲律賓、越南、緬 甸、泰國等）疫情反覆，不少港商在當地的 廠房未能全面復工，部份更需將工序轉回內 地進行。作為人手較密集的產業，廠商必須 積極防控疫情，配合當地政策安排員工接種 疫苗，以保持穩定的生產力和提升議價能 力。另外，近期原材料價格上升及供應緊 絀，棉花的採購價格因「新疆棉」事件而變 得不穩定，廠商或須轉向印度等地區採購。 另一方面，網上購物漸趨成熟，特別是服 Apparel, Textiles, Footwear, Bags and Accessories Groups 成衣、紡織品、鞋履、袋及附屬用品分組 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING SUPPLEMENT | 周年大會特輯 GROUP 9 分組 第 GROUP 12 分組 第 GROUP 24 分組 第 GROUP 23 分組 第 GROUP 17 分組 第 GROUP 13 分組 第 GROUP 3 分組 第 Chairman: Jackie Ng 主席 : 吳慧君 | Vice-Chairman: Estella Kwan 副主席 : 關德英 Chairman: Dr Ben Cheung 主席 : 張煒傑博士 | Vice-Chairman: Dr Bernard Chung 副主席 : 鍾細榮博士 Chairman: Sunny Tan 主席 : 陳祖恒 | Vice-Chairman: Joanne Chow 副主席 : 周凱瑜 Chairman: Kenneth Wong 主席 : 黃啟智 | Vice-Chairman: Kelvin Wong 副主席 : 黃繼雄 Chairman: Stanford Kuo 主席 : 郭大熾 | Vice-Chairman: Dr Clement Chen 副主席 : 陳鎮仁博士 Chairman: Bruce Young 主席 : 楊振孝 | Vice-Chairman: Angela Fu 副主席 : 符敏嫻 Chairman: Richard Cheng 主席 : 鄭文德 | Vice-Chairman: Benny Chan 副主席 : 陳達彬 Dyeing and finishing 染色及整理 Hong Kong Footwear, Bag and Leather Accessories Council 香港鞋、袋及皮革配飾協會 Knit garments and other knit made-up goods 針織成衣及其他針織製成品 Multi-Textiles and Fashion Accessories Council 多元紡織及配飾協會 Spinning 紡紗 Weaving 織造 Woven garments and other woven made-up goods 編織成衣及其他編織製成品 66 | 8-10/2021