The recently concluded 38th HKTDC Hong Kong Electronics Fair (Autumn Edition) and the 22nd electronicAsia attracted 87,000 buyers from 139 countries and regions over a four-day period.
Buyer attendance grew from a number of countries and regions including mature markets such as Canada, Italy, Singapore, Taiwan and the UK, and emerging markets such as Brazil, the Chinese mainland, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Russia.
More than 63,500 buyers visited the Autumn Electronics Fair while over 23,400 visitors attended electronicAsia.
The Electronics Fair was organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), while electronicAsia was jointly organised by the HKTDC and MMI Asia.
HKTDC Deputy Executive Director Benjamin Chau said: "In the face of global economic uncertainty, Hong Kong companies are pushing to strengthen R&D and develop new technologies in a bid to launch innovative electronic products. At the two fairs, we saw how they are successfully applying advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR) to a wide range of electronic products, attracting the attention of global buyers.”
The HKTDC commissioned an independent survey during the trade fair, interviewing a total of 1,043 exhibitors and buyers on the outlook for the electronics market and new product trends.
Some 60% of respondents said the recent Sino-US trade friction has had a negative effect on their export performance, and 40% of respondents said they expected their company's overall sales to grow this year – the figure is 13% points lower than the proportion that gave the same response in 2017.
In terms of markets with growth prospects, survey respondents view Japan as the most promising traditional market (75%), followed by South Korea (73%) and Western Europe (72%), while the Chinese mainland (77%), Middle East (76%) and ASEAN countries (76%) are seen to have the best prospects among emerging markets.
