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Tim Metcalfe

AMERICAN produce sales to the territory have topped US$1 billion for the first time.

The record of $1.23 billion for food exports last year was posted after a 40 per cent boom in sales.

In the first three months of this year, there was a further 49 per cent boost in produce orders.

  Hong Kong is now the fourth biggest market in the world for 'high quality' or ready-to-eat US foodstuffs - particularly poultry, fruit and vegetables.

 'It looks like 1995 will be a stellar year,' said LaVerne Brabant, director of the US Agricultural Trade Office in Hong Kong.

The opportunity to supply and satisfy Hong Kong's discriminating cooks and diners has proved a bonanza for US food exporters.

 Hong Kong is a major customer for labour-intensive, quality produce. 'And that means jobs,' Mr Brabant said.

'Hong Kong residents have the highest purchasing power in Asia - higher than Japan, even higher than Britain,' Mr Brabant said.

US exporters were now realising the potential demand for a wider range of specialties, he said.

'It is something that has not been on everyone's radar screens,' Mr Brabant said.

Food represents more than 10 per cent of all American exports to the territory and the market is growing.

 'US companies are re-discovering some of the opportunities that exist,' Mr Brabant said.

As American-style restaurants are becoming popular in Hong Kong, new initiatives are emerging to claim a slice of the action. Following a recent trade mission, a co-operative of seafood exporters from Washington, Alaska and Oregon is currently negotiating a major contract to supply salmon, black cod, scallops and shrimp to one of the territory's biggest trading companies.

'The deal is not inked yet but should significantly enhance our position in the market,' Mr Brabant said.

   Hong Kong's plea to feed its 24-hour, bottomless stomach has jolted the American food industry. The resonance of its call stirred citrus growers from the groves of California, Texas and Florida.

 It summoned farmers from the corn and soybean fields of Iowa and Nebraska.

 It was heralded as a beacon of opportunity by fishermen in the sea port towns of Oregon, Mississippi and Massachusetts.

 American investors had made a significant move into Hong Kong over the past decade, said David Katz, US Consul for Commercial Affairs.

They are the second-largest foreign investors in the territory after Japan with a 28 per cent share of expatriate industrial enterprises.

The US Consulate estimates around 1,000 US firms here have invested about $10.5 billion.

US companies have set up 178 regional headquarters and 193 regional offices in the territory.

 The American Chamber of Commerce counts more than 1,200 companies and 2,500 individual businessmen among its membership.

'The trend seems to be progressing in the right direction for everyone,' Mr Katz said. In the manufacturing sector alone, US investment is valued at more than $1.474 billion in 89 factories employing over 20,000 staff - 3.8 per cent of the total manufacturing workforce.

A quarter of those companies manufacture electronics, including Motorola, NCR, Commodore and Digital Equipment.

 Others concentrate on electrical products, textiles and clothing, metal-ware, food and beverage, chemicals, printing and publishing.

Besides manufacturing, many major US banks, insurance firms, transport companies and multinationals operate in Hong Kong.

 Among them are Citibank, Bank of America, Chase Manhattan Bank, AIA, Sea-land, American President Lines, 3M, IBM, Xerox and DuPont.

The Hughes corporation recently landed a $43-million contract at Chek Lap Kok airport and Disney is setting up shop with an outlet in Sha Tin.

As a result, Americans represent one of the largest expatriate populations in the territory.

 At the last count, 31,000 American citizens were residents, Mr Katz said.

Nine states have representative offices here: California, Hawaii, Illinois, North Carolina, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, New York and Wisconsin.

 In addition, 10 port authorities, including Miami, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Portland, Virginia, San Diego and Oakland, have offices in Hong Kong.

In a bid to capitalise on Hong Kong's apparently insatiable appetite for foodstuffs, the US Department of Agriculture is mounting a high-level mission here later this year. So is the Department of Commerce, with a delegation headed by Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown.

'Hong Kong sits at the vortex of an economic boom that is transforming not only China but all of Asia,' Mr Brabant said.

It was only as a result of 'recognising the need to support trade in one of the largest and fastest-growing high-value food and agricultural import markets in Asia' that the department established the Agricultural Trade Office in Hong Kong in 1991.

The forthcoming trade mission aims to promote US food products and secure a bigger share of the profitable market.

'It is a chance to talk to the major players and traders,' Mr Brabant said.

'An increase in exports of 49 per cent may not be particularly high by Hong Kong standards, but it is in the United States.' 



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