President of the Hong Kong SMEs General Association expressed his opinion

Chai Kwong-wah, president of the Hong Kong Small and Medium Enterprises General Association.

He said a survey had found that more than 40 per cent of its members planned to close their factories in Shenzhen and the rest of the Pearl River Delta.

He said he started to run a toy factory in Shenzhen in the 1990s. But he has never seen such inflation before.

He predicted that 2012 would be the toughest one for all factories, especially in the export-production industry.

He said hope was slim and no government measures could save these manufacturers who might lack orders, or trapped in financial problems caused by euro-zone debt crisis.

Many manufacturers have stated that they had to pay higher wages to the employees and the rental fees had hiked, which made some small factory move from place to place in a bid to save costs

Many manufacturers said the profits have dropped about 10 percent compared with the past.

Export slipped because of the overseas economic uncertainties. It is not surprised to see drop in industrial growth.

The whole Pearl River Delta region had seen a similar slowdown in recent months and he expected the Yangtze River Delta region and other manufacturing centers would soon see similar problems because the country still relied on exports and government measures to drive growth.

Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Dongguan and the whole province has seen slowdown this year, that's because Guangdong failed to find new methods to boost growth when its traditional export-driven economy was hit hard by the global economic crisis.