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【Wei on Economy】Food Technology - An Indispensable Reindustrial Puzzle

2022-04-18T00:12:58.984Z


The author’s earlier Reindustrialization Research Report, in collaboration with the Hong Kong Productivity Council, focused on three economies with similar economies and population sizes as Hong Kong – Israel, Singapore and Switzerland. Recently, the Singapore government has


The author’s earlier Reindustrialization Research Report, in collaboration with the Hong Kong Productivity Council, focused on three economies with similar economies and population sizes as Hong Kong – Israel, Singapore and Switzerland.

Recently, the Singaporean government and the Israeli government signed a memorandum of cooperation on artificial intelligence, and advocated strengthening cooperation in fields such as agricultural technology and food technology.

When a small open economy like Singapore like Hong Kong is prepared for danger and re-imagines its position in the global economy in the post-epidemic era and plans for a new development direction, should Hong Kong think about how to advance to the high-end technology industry?


At the beginning of this series of columns, the author mentioned that food technology should be one of the five major technology industries developed in Hong Kong. In fact, food manufacturing and processing have always played an important role in Hong Kong's economy.

Although the share of manufacturing in Hong Kong's economy continues to decline, Hong Kong's food manufacturing industry continues to expand, with many traditional food manufacturers taking advantage of the brands they have established to expand from the local market to the world.

Life science and technology, one of the five major industries of Hong Kong's re-industrialization proposed by the author, is also closely related to food manufacturing, such as health products and plant food.

In the eyes of global consumers, food manufacturers in Hong Kong are regarded as quality producers with good reputation and high safety standards.

Rethinking food supply chains in light of the coronavirus and geopolitical crises

In the past two years, due to the epidemic, factories have been shut down, ports have been blocked, and there has been a wave of resignations in Western society. The global supply chain has been severely impacted, many products are in short supply, and everything has gone up in price.

The house leaks and the overnight rain, the tension in Ukraine continues, leading to soaring food and raw material prices, food shortages and severe inflation in the economies of many countries, and the era of global stagflation has begun.

After this battle, governments will strengthen the security of food and its supply chain, which brings many potential opportunities for food technology.

Pamela Lee, Director of Policy and Planning, National Climate Change Secretariat, Prime Minister's Office, Singapore, pointed out that Singapore hopes to use innovation and technology to overcome food safety challenges and use cell-based meat to find solutions for future human health and sustainable development.

Consumers are increasingly concerned about the origin of the food they eat and the impact on the planet, especially climate change.

Deforestation caused by planting crops and animal husbandry has increased carbon emissions and pollution such as chemical fertilizer and methane emissions, impacting sustainable development.

In addition, consumers are more health-conscious, and there is an increase in demand for organic and plant-based foods.

According to an August 2021 study by Bloomberg News, plant-based foods will rise nearly 5.5-fold within a decade and will account for 7.7% of the global protein market by 2030, worth more than $162 billion.

For countries to achieve carbon neutrality, policies need to be promoted through the market to more effectively promote the development of new food raw materials, vertical farming, laboratory meat, and plant-based diets.

In addition, agricultural technology is booming, leveraging Industry 4.0 and IoT technologies to increase transparency and accessibility for food producers and consumers, and to rapidly improve resource management and productivity.

Many traditional food manufacturers have expanded from their local markets to the world using the brands they have built over the years.

Hong Kong's food technology innovation is in the ascendant

Although the share of manufacturing value added in Hong Kong's economy is shrinking rapidly, the "food, beverage and tobacco products industry" has become increasingly important, and its share in manufacturing has increased from 4.4% in 1973 to 34.1% in 2019.

Although the number of manufacturing enterprises is decreasing, from 9,358 in 2013 to 7,251 in 2019, employment in the "Food, Beverage and Tobacco Manufacturing" sector increased from 30,037 to 34,053 over the same period.

Furthermore, in the eyes of global consumers, food manufacturers in Hong Kong are often seen as quality producers with good reputation and high safety standards.

Taking advantage of Hong Kong's existing competitive advantages in the food industry and effectively applying Industry 4.0 and other new industrial technologies will surely bring new opportunities to Hong Kong's economy.

Since the Chief Executive of the SAR proposed "re-industrialization" in the "Policy Address" in 2016, many Hong Kong-owned manufacturers in mainland China, including some food manufacturers, have planned to relocate some or even all of their production processes back to Hong Kong.

However, lack of land and building area restrictions, as well as high production costs in Hong Kong, have hampered the manufacturer's plans.

Some manufacturers hope that the Hong Kong government and related associations can assist the industry in establishing food production industrial parks and provide low-cost venues and supporting facilities to support the industry's further development in Hong Kong.

They also emphasized that they hoped that the industrial park would allow them to share resources such as logistics, water supply and environmentally friendly sewage treatment to help further share production costs and ultimately create a win-win situation for the government, the food industry and consumers.

The "Made in Hong Kong" brand carries Hong Kong's reputation for food safety and high quality, which relies on Hong Kong's well-established food safety regulatory framework and legal system.

Therefore, industry stakeholders expect the government to make good use of the "Made in Hong Kong" brand, while manufacturers focus on developing technologies that can bring high added value.

Leveraging Industry 4.0 technologies such as robotics and artificial intelligence, advanced food manufacturing will be able to be one of the driving engines for Hong Kong's re-industrialisation.

Manufacturing's share of Hong Kong's economy continued to decline, but Hong Kong's food manufacturing industry continued to expand.

For example, a well-known Cantonese restaurant company has jointly designed the first intelligent Cantonese cuisine production line with the Hong Kong Productivity Bureau based on various automation technologies. In addition to reducing labor consumption, it also uses intelligent technologies, including Cyber-Physical Convergence Production System (CPPS), Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), real-time data collection (including production, equipment, quality and energy data), and Human Machine Interface (HMI) for real-time monitoring to improve quality and production efficiency.

A local traditional Chinese bakery has also established a smart production line to automate the process of producing different Chinese pastries.

In particular, they use sensors to replace human hands for temperature monitoring, which greatly improves occupational safety and reduces labor.

A long-established beverage manufacturer in Hong Kong has used Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to improve transportation and distribution efficiency, and to improve cargo transportation and handling facilities.

Since the program began, the company has seen an 8 to 10 percent increase in the average number of loaded trucks per working day and an 8 to 10 percent increase in loading area utilization, and a 13 to 14 percent decrease in average cargo loading and unloading time and queuing time.

In addition, companies can collect real-time data to assist management in making timely decisions.

To sum up, the food industry covers a wide range of fields, including fishery and agriculture, vegetarian food, cultured meat, food manufacturing technology, plastic packaging, testing and certification, logistics and sales, food waste treatment, etc.

There is a lot of room in different fields to apply innovative technologies and increase productivity.

Deng Xiwei


Professor of Economics, School of Economics and Management, The University of Hong Kong, Deputy Director of Asia Global Institute


Source: hk1

All news articles on 2022-04-18

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