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 15 October 1999 Manufacturing Orders just Keep Deteriorating Comment by the Chamber Chief Economist, Ian K Perkin, on today's orders-on-hand numbers for August 1999. Orders on hand with domestic manufacturers continued to decline at a rapid rate in August, suggesting there still could be several months of weak domestic exports and poor domestic demand ahead for the Hong Kong SAR. The 22 per cent drop in August compared with a year earlier is the second worst recorded so far this year and continues the run of consistent declines that extends back almost two years to September 1997. The failure of orders-on-hand to rebound since the east Asian financial crisis hit underlines the continued decline of local light industrial manufacturing and the need for the SAR to continue to expand in services and higher technological industries. It helps explain the emphasis given the need to further restructure the local economy and to expand into new sectors in the Chief Executive, Mr Tung Chee Hwa's Policy Address again this year. Every month this year has been substantially negative for new orders to local manufacturers. They were down 21 per cent in July compared with a year earlier, 23 per cent in June, 21 per cent in May, 19 per cent in April, 20 per cent in March, 19 per cent in February and 20 per cent in January. Allowing for the delay between orders received and actual deliveries, these figures do not augur well for the immediate outlook, with lower production, poor domestic exports and weak local demand in the months ahead.
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