'Export, Manufacturing Hit Even Harder Than Retail'

Liberal Party leader Felix Chung warned on Tuesday that Hong Kong's manufacturing and export sectors are being hit harder by the Covid-19 crisis than even the city's floundering retail and catering firms.

Chung reiterated his call for the government to start paying 50 percent of workers' salaries as part of its next round of measures to help those struggling through the coronavirus pandemic.

He said this would help businesses who are having difficulties in paying their rent and staff wages, and would also help prevent the city's unemployment rate from shooting up further.

"All the industries across different sectors have been affected, no matter whether it is small businesses or big businesses," he said.

"People may not know that the export and manufacturing sectors are having a seriously difficult time, I think it's even more serious than the catering or retail sectors," Chung said.

"The markets we export to are the US and Europe. But you can see, nobody is going out to buy things. All the shopping malls have been closed, so all the international buyers have just cancelled all their orders."

Chung told RTHK's Janice Wong that the government should pay half of workers' salaries, up to a cap of HK$18,000 per month, to help businesses avoid laying people off.