HK exports grow

Press, 24 October 1984, Page 29

HK exports grow

By

NEVIN TOPP

It could be New Zealand’s best year for trade with Hong Kong, says Mr Stephen Chan, a marketing officer with this country s Department of Trade and

Industry, who is stationed in the colony. Mr Chan, along with two other Trade and Industry marketing officers, Mr Zhang Baoshen, from Peking, and Mr Ricky Choe,

of Singapore, are in New Zealand for three weeks to learn about the country’s key economic sectors and to meet exporters who may be interested in trading in the countries that they work in. Mr Chan says that based on statistics in Hong Kong for the first five months, the year could be the best ever for New Zealand’s trade to the colony if the exporters keep doing well. Mr Chan says that last year the total bilateral trade between Hong Kong and New Zealand totalled SHKI26O million (about SNZ34OM on the exchange rate since devaluation) and that in the last few years the terms of trade has been about 60 per cent in New Zealand’s favour. Mr Choe says that New Zealand’s exports to Singapore have been gradually improving in the last few years, but this country may need to capitalise more on the image that it has in South-East “New Zealand has a good image as far as food is concerned; a good, clean image to capitalise on in Singapore.” . Both men agree that New Zealand’s products are of good quality and competitively priced, but more could be done to bring manufactured goods into both markets. Mr Chan used pneumatic valves, steam boilers, and telecommunications equipment, as examples of New Zealand products that had recently done well in Hong Kong against competition from other countries. Both he and Mr Choe agreed that New Zealand manufactured goods were of good quality, and that they did not need to compete against products from Taiwan and South Korea. Mr Choe says New Zealand manufacturers should not be competing with Taiwanese or South Korean goods, but should identify their own market segment and work at that, because a lower price meant lower quality. At the same time, Mr Chan says that New Zealand exporters should not be looking at Hong Kong as an end market, but as a means of entering China, with Kong Kong being the middle-man, particularly for areas like Canton, which has the same dialect as the colony. . Both marketing officers agree that New Zealanders seeking to do business in their respective countries must take the opportunity to visit the markets regularly for themselves to find out what is required and to see what competitors are doing. Brochures on the products are also important, but Mr Choe says that just photocopies are not good enough because it gives a bad impression of the company.