HK-INC Gauges Views on Road ahead for Watch Industry

The “Hong Kong Industry Network Clusters” (HK-INC), established by the Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC), held the 4th consultation session today (3 November 2010) to gauge the views of industry on the future development of Hong Kong’s watch industry.

Addressing the meeting, Mr Clement Chen, HKPC Chairman, said, “While the local watch industry is gradually recovering from the financial crisis, new challenges emerge - the weak US dollar, Renminbi appreciation, rising salary and costs, as well as changing labour and processing trade policies on the Mainland, hampering further development. To sharpen its long-term competitive edge, the industry should reposition in the international marketplace by shifting towards high value-adding business.”

In the first nine months of 2010, Hong Kong’s total exports of watches and clocks surged 27% over the same period last year, reaching $40.3 billion; with double-digit growth in most markets.

Mr Chen said, “Through this meeting, we hope to gauge the views of industry on the road ahead for scaling new heights. The meeting has explored areas including the application of new materials, advanced manufacturing technologies and training. We will summarize the comments collected and communicate with the Government to help facilitate the formulation of strategies and services to meet the needs of industry.”

Held regularly, the theme-based HK-INC aims to gauge the views of local industry on issues of relevance to their long-term development. Previous meetings on domestic sales, environmental and creative industries were convened with participants from trade and industry organizations, business and SME associations. More than 20 representatives participated today’s meeting.

For more details about HKPC’s services for the watch industry, please contact Dr L K Yeung, General Manager (Materials Technology), at tel: (852) 2788 5528, or e-mail: dyeung@hkpc.org. For other media enquiries, please contact Justina Shum at tel. (852) 2788 5895 or email: justina@hkpc.org.

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Mr Jonathan Ho
General Manager
Corporate Communications
Tel: (852) 2788 6390
Fax: (852) 2788 5056
Email: jonathanho@hkpc.org
Website: www.hkpc.org

3 November 2010

Mr Clement Chen, Chairman of HKPC, hosted the 4th consultation session of the “Hong Kong Industry Network Clusters” (HK-INC) established by HKPC, to explore the future development of the local watch industry