Processing no longer an easy trade-英语点津_美文

Processing no longer an easy trade-英语点津

But the mainland economy has developed to a stage where it does not need to rely on labor-intensive investment. "Unlike in the early 1980s, the mainland can now afford to be selective with overseas investors," says Chinese University of Hong Kong's associate professor of finance Liu Ming.

The central government is now making serious efforts to restrict the development of high energy and resource consuming and highly polluting industries. That, say some analysts, will spell doom for some factories owned by Hong Kong residents in the PRD region.

A TDC study shows nearly 14,500 Hong Kong firms will be seriously hit by the central government's new policies, with about 1,500 of them being forced to cease production. This will render 375,000 mainland and 10,000 Hong Kong workers jobless. Market observers fear that Hong Kong firms in Guangdong will be the worst hit, and many of them forced to fold up in a year.

But the need to save the environment is among the primary concerns of the central government, as it is with many others in the rest of the world. Wang Qinhua, head of the Ministry of Commerce's mechanical, electronics and high-tech industries department, says: "The new policy will raise costs and hinder the cash flow of exporters, especially those engaged in labor-intensive industries. Exporters will be forced to add value to their products and upgrade their technology."

Many Hong Kong companies, however, lack funds to do that. The situation of processing units that depend on supply of materials is especially grim. Adding value to their products and upgrading their technology are beyond their means because they have to change their mode of production for that.