The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced today (December 11) that in view of notifications from the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) about outbreaks of highly p… read more
The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:
The Legislative Council (LegCo) Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will hold a public hearing on “Licensing of food premises” (Chapter 2) of the Director of Audit’s Report No. 81 tomorrow (December 12) at 9am in Conference Room 1 of the LegCo Complex.
Thirteen witnesses have been invited to appear before the above hearing to respond to points raised in the Report and answer questions asked by PAC members.
The programme for the public hearing is as follows:
Subject: Licensing of food premises
(Chapter 2 of the Director of Audit’s Report No. 81)
Date: December 12 (Tuesday)
Time: 9am
Venue: Conference Room 1
Witnesses:
Mr Tse Chin-wan
Secretary for Environment and Ecology
Miss Vivian Lau
Permanent Secretary for Environment and Ecology (Food)
Ms Wendy Au
Acting Deputy Secretary for Environment and Ecology (Food)1
Ms Irene Young
Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene
Mr Arsene Yiu
Deputy Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene (Environmental Hygiene)
Mr Gabriel Tsang
Assistant Director (Operations)1
Food and Environmental Hygiene Department
Mr Wan Chi-shun
Senior Superintendent (Hygiene)
Food and Environmental Hygiene Department
Miss Winnie Chau Wing-chi
Senior Superintendent (Licensing)
Food and Environmental Hygiene Department
Ms Clarice Yu
Director of Buildings
Mr Yue Chak-sang
Chief Building Surveyor/New Territories East (1) and Licensing
Buildings Department
Mr Andy Yeung Yan-kin
Director of Fire Services
Mr Wong Ka-wing
Assistant Director (Licensing and Certification)
Fire Services Department
Mrs Alice Cheung
Director of Home Affairs
The PAC is chaired by Mr Shiu Ka-fai, and its Deputy Chairman is Mr Paul Tse. Other members are Ms Yung Hoi-yan, Mr Luk Chung-hung, Mr Edmund Wong, Mr Louis Loong and Ms Carmen Kan. read more
​Invest Hong Kong announced today (December 11) that one of its assisted companies, Mainland restaurant brand Tai Er, is opening four suancai fish shops this month in a single investment showing ample confidence in the city’s food and beverage industry.
The Associate Director-General of Investment Promotion, Dr Jimmy Chiang, said that Tai Er’s decision is a vivid case of the attraction of Hong Kong’s vibrant restaurant industry. “Hong Kong is a gourmet paradise with customers from all over the globe. Local brands, brands from the Mainland and those from the West gather and interact in our global hub here creating one of the world’s most sophisticated food and beverage ecosystems.”
The locations of the four Tai Er shops span across multiple strategic spots in Hong Kong. Two in Tsim Sha Tsui and Sha Tin were opened last Saturday (December 9), and the remaining two will be opened later this month in Kowloon Tong and San Po Kong. The ingredients and recipe used in Hong Kong will strictly follow the high-quality level set out by the group, said the International Business Development Senior Director of Too Two Hong Kong Restaurant Limited, Mr Jason Chen, vowing to offer Hong Kong customers an unforgettable experience of suancai fish.
“Through many years of hard work and commitment, Tai Er has earned an expanding group of loyal fans, who include many discerning diners from Hong Kong. By opening shops in Hong Kong, we hope to keep our brand awareness growing in the city and beyond,” Mr Chen said.
“As Hong Kong is itself a renowned international city as well as a well-known gourmet hub, we can grow our brand via the city to other parts in the region, which helps to build and cement Tai Er’s global presence. We have full confidence that our commitment in high-quality food and services will take us towards our goal of being a top-notched brand in the world,” he continued.
Tai Er is part of the Jiumaojiu Group, listed in Hong Kong, which operates more than 670 different branded restaurants in Mainland China, Malaysia, Singapore and Canada. It is renowned for its suancai fish across the Mainland. The company said it has future plans to open more shops in the region via Hong Kong.
To get a copy of the photos, please visit www.flickr.com/photos/investhk/albums/72177720313294485.
For more information about Tai Er, please visit https://www.taier.net/eindex.html
The total gross value of construction works (GVCW) performed by main contractors in the third quarter of 2023 increased by 13.2% in nominal terms over a year earlier to $69.0 billion, according to the provisional results of the Quarterly Survey of Construction Output released today (December 11) by the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD).
After discounting the effect of price changes, the provisional results showed that the total GVCW performed by main contractors increased by 14.3% in real terms over the same period. GVCW in real terms is derived by deflating the corresponding nominal value with an appropriate price index to the price level in the base period of 2000.
Analysed by type of construction works, the GVCW performed at private sector sites totalled $21.9 billion in the third quarter of 2023, up by 31.4% in nominal terms over a year earlier. In real terms, it increased by 29.4%. The GVCW performed at public sector sites increased by 11.5% in nominal terms over a year earlier to $22.8 billion in the third quarter of 2023. In real terms, it increased by 12.7%.
The GVCW performed by main contractors at locations other than construction sites amounted to $24.3 billion in the third quarter of 2023, up by 1.9% in nominal terms compared with a year earlier. In real terms, it increased by 3.1%. Construction works at locations other than construction sites included minor new construction activities and decoration, repair and maintenance for buildings; and electrical equipment installation and maintenance works at locations other than construction sites.
Analysed by major end-use group, the GVCW performed at construction sites in respect of residential buildings projects amounted to $18.7 billion in the third quarter of 2023, up by 60.0% in nominal terms over a year earlier. Over the same period, the GVCW performed at construction sites in respect of transport projects went up 2.3% in nominal terms to $8.7 billion in the third quarter of 2023.
On a seasonally adjusted quarter-to-quarter basis, the GVCW performed by main contractors slightly decreased by 0.3% in nominal terms but slightly increased by 0.3% in real terms in the third quarter of 2023 compared with the second quarter of 2023.
Table 1 shows the provisional figures on the GVCW performed by main contractors in the third quarter of 2023. Table 2 shows the revised figures for the second quarter of 2023.
Owing to the widespread sub-contracting practices in the construction industry, a construction establishment can be a main contractor for one contract and a sub-contractor for another contract at the same time. The GVCW performed by main contractors covers only those projects in which the construction establishment takes the role of a main contractor, but not projects in which it takes only the role of a sub-contractor. However, sub-contractors’ contribution to projects should have been included in the GVCW performed by main contractors for whom they worked.
The classification of construction establishments follows the Hong Kong Standard Industrial Classification Version 2.0, which is used in various economic surveys for classifying economic units into different industry classes.
More detailed statistics are given in the “Report on the Quarterly Survey of Construction Output”. Users can browse and download this publication at the website of the C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/en/EIndexbySubject.html?pcode=B1090002&scode=330).
For enquiries about the survey results, please contact the Construction and Miscellaneous Services Statistics Section of the C&SD (Tel: 3903 6965; email: building@censtatd.gov.hk). read more
The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) released today (December 11) the results of the Monthly Survey on Business Situation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) for November 2023.
The current diffusion index (DI) on business receipts amongst SMEs decreased from 44.8 in October 2023 in the contractionary zone to 44.0 in November 2023, whereas the one-month’s ahead (i.e. December 2023) outlook DI on business receipts was 48.3. Analysed by sector, the current DIs on business receipts for majority of the surveyed sectors dropped by varying degrees in November 2023 as compared with previous month, particularly for the import and export trades (from 45.0 to 43.6) and logistics (from 43.3 to 41.9).
The current DI on new orders for the import and export trades decreased from 45.6 in October 2023 to 43.9 in November 2023, whereas the outlook DI on new orders in one month’s time (i.e. December 2023) was 47.8.
Commentary
A Government spokesman said that overall business sentiment among SMEs eased further in November. The overall employment situation also softened slightly. Nonetheless, expectations on the business situation in one month’s time remained stable.
Looking forward, the spokesman said that business sentiment will continue to be dampened by the unfavourable external environment, though the expected further recovery of consumption- and tourism-related activities and the Government’s various initiatives that bolster the economy should provide support. The Government will monitor the situation closely.
Further information
The Monthly Survey on Business Situation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises aims to provide a quick reference, with minimum time lag, for assessing the short-term business situation faced by SMEs. SMEs covered in this survey refer to establishments with fewer than 50 persons engaged. Respondents were asked to exclude seasonal fluctuations in reporting their views. Based on the views collected from the survey, a set of diffusion indices (including current and outlook diffusion indices) is compiled. A reading above 50 indicates that the business condition is generally favourable, whereas that below 50 indicates otherwise. As for statistics on the business prospects of prominent establishments in Hong Kong, users may refer to the publication entitled “Report on Quarterly Business Tendency Survey” released by the C&SD.
The results of the survey should be interpreted with care. The survey solicits feedback from a panel sample of about 600 SMEs each month and the survey findings are thus subject to sample size constraint. Views collected from the survey refer only to those of respondents on their own establishments rather than those on the respective sectors they are engaged in. Besides, in this type of opinion survey on expected business situation, the views collected in the survey are affected by the events in the community occurring around the time of enumeration, and it is difficult to establish precisely the extent to which respondents’ perception of the business situation accords with the underlying trends. For this survey, main bulk of the data were collected around the last week of the reference month.
More detailed statistics are given in the “Report on Monthly Survey on the Business Situation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises”. Users can browse and download the publication at the website of the C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/en/EIndexbySubject.html?pcode=B1080015&scode=300).
Users who have enquiries about the survey results may contact Industrial Production Statistics Section of the C&SD (Tel: 3903 7246; email: sme-survey@censtatd.gov.hk). read more