European orders rise at Hong Kong show

Frame sales from China to Europe have begun to recover significantly according to manufacturers exhibiting at the 2009 Hong Kong Optical Fair, pointing to an improvement in the European frame market.

Manufacturers, who supply European clients with frames, told Optician that they had experienced large increases in order volumes in recent months.

A spokesperson for Wing Fung Optical, a Hong Kong-based manufacturer whose main markets are in Europe and the US, said that business had picked up considerably since August.

He revealed that Wing Fung Optical had experienced a 60 per cent rise in orders at the show compared to 2008 and added that its European orders were 'really picking up'. Although he said that product demand had not returned to its pre-crisis levels, the company was confident that market conditions for its European customers were improving. As a result of the upturn, he said that the company was now rehiring many factory workers after being obliged to make considerable redundancies in its Chinese factories at the beginning of the crisis.