HONG KONG - It sounds like every child's
fantasy: a nearly 47,000-square-meter building
filled to the rafters with nothing but the very
latest toys and games. This was no dream, however:
it was the 2006 Hong Kong Toys and Games
Fair, just concluded in Hong Kong, which claims to
be the "world's second-largest toy fair" (the
biggest is still the Toy Industry Association's
Toy Fair in New York).
According to the
Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), this
year's Hong Kong fair made quite a mark in terms
of
number of participants and visitors. According to
HKTDC statistics, the 2006 show attracted 1,930
manufacturers from 37 countries. Topping 2005's
attendance, this year's show also saw the
first-time participation of manufacturers from as
far afield as the British Virgin Islands, Saudi
Arabia, Macedonia and the Czech Republic.
A booming market The HKTDC has
worked hard to bring new categories to the show,
and this year two new specialty areas - "Candy
Toys" and "Paper Toys" - were added to the event.
Attendance broke the 2004 record in several
categories, including "Hobby Toys", "Magic Toys"
and "Babies' & Kids' Toys".
Jeffrey
Lam, chairman of the Toys Advisory Committee of
the HKTDC, said Hong Kong has gained new ground in
producing licensed toys for movies and special
occasions. "With high product quality, splendid
designs and advanced molding and imprinting
technologies, Hong Kong's toy exporters have won
solid trust from major fast-food chains and movie
studios for licensed items," he said.
In
fact, driven by growth in demand for video
consoles, IQ (brain-teaser) toys and electronic
toys in all Hong Kong's major toy export markets,
Hong Kong's toymakers - most of whom produce their
items in mainland China - made more than US$90
billion in the first 11 months of 2005.
Apart from traditional toy-export hot
spots such as the United States, Japan, Germany
and the United Kingdom, mainland China is also
considered an up-and-comer in terms of toy
consumption. With a rising standard of living and
an emerging middle class, the mainland has also
become a lucrative export market for Hong Kong
toymakers, no longer simply a manufacturing site
and source of labor. In 2004, the mainland bought
$3.39 billion worth of toys from Hong Kong
companies. In 2005, the toy industry's total
revenue from China saw another 74% increase, to
$5.27 billion - impressive growth numbers compared
with mature Western markets.
IQ toys
hot at fair Asia Times Online's floor
reporter found that toys offering IQ challenges
made up a large portion of the exhibition. From
traditional puzzles to the newly popular "sudoku"
number-grid challenge games, brain teasers and
mental challenges of many types were a hit among
toy developers of all sizes.
Coming all
the way from the Netherlands, Recent Toys
International offered a wide variety of cube
puzzles and 3-D mental challenges. The company's
managing director Guido Lap said the firm was
enjoying good business at the show. "We see that
buyers have a keen interest in brain teasers. Our
board games [are] also [selling well] here, so we
feel [satisfied] with our performance so far."
Lap, making his third appearance at the
Hong Kong fair, also offered an optimistic
evaluation of the East Asian toy market: "We are
now also working on expanding into Japan and
Southeast Asian countries like Thailand."
At the other end of the hall, Unima Master
Information displayed its remarkable hollow,
spherical jigsaw puzzles. Made of plastic, with no interior
support and no glue, the puzzles range in size
from 75 millimeters in diameter to an amazing 1.5
meters (An example of the 1.5-meter size, which
the company says is being entered for Guinness
World Records, was a highlight of Unima's
display.) The puzzles come in "novice" and
"advanced" levels, and are sold with a display
stand to exhibit them once completed.
Roy
Yeung, the company's system engineer, told ATol
that the company was meeting its performance
goals. "We had seen a 40% rise in our [sales]
agreements," he said.
New
twists While toymakers in general stuck to
their core competencies, some of the newer
attendees introduced fun, eye-catching twists.
Tax-Wise Trading, a relative
newcomer to the toy fair, displayed its line of
miniature food items: dishes and decorative wax
models resembling items
commonly found in Hong Kong-style folk
restaurants, although on a much reduced scale.
Managing director Ng Wang Leung said the firm had
borrowed the idea from Japanese toymakers, who
have been developing small toys or wax models that
can be placed in egg-shaped plastic shells for
vending machines.
"In fact, we are looking
to introduce our lines to Japan. We have also
received enquiries from Japanese buyers regarding
our models," Ng told ATol. "Due to our cultural
[background], we specialize in miniatures of
Chinese items. We [are] also working on other
small wax designs at the moment."
Sudoku
number puzzles, in all forms and sizes, were also
a big hit at the show this year. First found in a
US puzzle magazine in 1979, the square logic
puzzles caught on in Japan in 1986 and have since
become an international fad. Visitors were greeted
by sudoku in handheld consoles, in board games and
even in the form of keychains, although ATol
noticed a high rate of repetition among the
products on offer. The wide choice of sudoku
products confirmed the games' worldwide
popularity, but manufacturers seemed to have
trouble differentiating their brands.
A
similar lack of originality could also be observed
in areas such as electronic games, the cash cow of
the global toy industry in recent years. ATol
found few new surprises or breakthrough designs in
Hong Kong toymakers' products. Unlike the "golden
'90s", when items such as Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles brought surprises to Western audiences,
Hong Kong toymakers today seem to invest even less
in unique ideas. Once mainland manufacturers have
gained their feet in the industry, and are in a
position to market new products without
assistance, it may be the Hong Kong toy
manufacturers' turn to face a tough uphill battle.
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with no interior
support and no glue, the puzzles range in size
from 75 millimeters in diameter to an amazing 1.5
meters (An example of the 1.5-meter size, which
the company says is being entered for Guinness
World Records, was a highlight of Unima's
display.) The puzzles come in "novice" and
"advanced" levels, and are sold with a display
stand to exhibit them once completed. 
resembling items
commonly found in Hong Kong-style folk
restaurants, although on a much reduced scale.
Managing director Ng Wang Leung said the firm had
borrowed the idea from Japanese toymakers, who
have been developing small toys or wax models that
can be placed in egg-shaped plastic shells for
vending machines. 
