貿易通 2021 年年報

Chairman’s Statement (Continued) 主席報告書（續） 10 Tradelink Electronic Commerce Limited Annual Report 2021 Prospects After rebounding to an estimated growth of 5.5 percent in 2021, the global economy enters 2022 in a weaker position than previously expected due to the emergence of the new COVID-19 Omicron variant prolonging the pandemic and creating renewed economic disruption. In addition, a notable deceleration in major economies–including the United States and China – will weigh on external demand. The development of relations and geopolitical tensions between these two countries continues to warrant attention. The latest development regarding the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has already exacted a heavy toll. Though the outcome is unclear, the war will continue to weigh on global economies, with ramifications for central bank policy, energy, commodities and more. Against all of these challenges and uncertainties, Hong Kong’s external trade growth in 2022 is also expected to decelerate. The latest wave of the pandemic and the tightening of anti-pandemic measures have again placed pressure on our economic and business activities. COVID-related consequences such as logistics bottlenecks loom large over Hong Kong’s export outlook in 2022. The Group’s operating environment which depends very much on the Hong Kong external trade activities is expected to face profound uncertainties. As the pandemic enters its third year, while not yet over, both economies and businesses are now more resilient and we are no exception. We will strive to address the challenges ahead of us in 2022 under the new normal. The uncertainty over Hong Kong’s trade performance in 2022 no doubt will most greatly affect our GETS business sub-segment under E-Commerce. Aside from external factors affecting the GETS market beyond our control, we are reasonably confident about our GETS business in 2022 given a stable competitive environment under which the three existing GETS providers focusing mainly on serving their own customers well rather than competing on pricing. Given our first-mover advantages in the GETS market, we firmly stand as the dominant GETS provider with a massive base of loyal customers enjoying the quality and robust services we have been offering them over the decades. All of our customers including those more price-sensitive freight forwarder customers, generally accept our premium pricing and agree to an increase in pricing under renewed contracts. That said, as mentioned in our reports in recent years, the major headwind to our GETS business is the shifting of GETS transactions from shipper customers to major courier customers who usually could use their strong bargaining power to negotiate a much lower pricing from us. The continued skyrocketing transaction volume from our major courier customers is expected to further drag down our overall price. We are making an all-out effort to work on, if all possible, shifting some of those shipper customers back to use our services directly. Overall speaking, given the market situation so far in 2022 when this report is being prepared and our belief in the resilience of the Hong Kong economy, we are cautiously optimistic about our GETS business outlook in 2022. However, its actual performance as we all know hinges on one singularly important factor which is the external trading environment affecting the GETS market in 2022. 前景 全球經濟繼於二零二一年預測反彈 5.5% 後，踏入二 零二二年因 COVID-19 Omicron 變種病毒肆虐，疫情 持續並對經濟造成新一輪干擾，全球經濟因而較預 期疲弱。此外，主要經濟體（包括美國和中國）經濟 減速明顯，將對外部需求造成壓力，而中美關係的 發展以及兩國地緣政治的緊張局勢繼續令人關注。 俄羅斯與烏克蘭衝突的最新發展已產生深遠影響， 雖然結果仍未明朗，但戰事將繼續拖累全球經濟， 左右央行政策並波及能源、商品等領域。面對此等 挑戰及不確定性，預期香港於二零二二年的對外貿 易增長將會放緩。最新一波疫情使防疫措施再度收 緊，為經濟及商業活動帶來壓力。疫情相關的影響 （例如物流瓶頸）為香港二零二二年的出口前景蒙上 陰影，而本集團的經營環境跟香港的對外貿易活動 環環緊扣，因而預期會面臨巨大的不確定性。儘管 疫情尚未結束，但已進入第三年，如今各經濟體及 大小企業都比以往更具韌力，我們亦不例外。在二 零二二年，我們將全力應對在新常態下的種種考 驗。 毫無疑問，二零二二年香港貿易表現的不確定性 將影響我們電子商務的 GETS 業務子分部。撇除非 我們所能控制影響 GETS 市場的外圍因素，只要競 爭環境穩定，三個現有的 GETS 供應商專注於服務 好本身的客戶而非在價格上競爭，則我們對 GETS 業務於二零二二年的表現仍抱合理信心。我們在 GETS 市場擁有先驅優勢，因而穩佔市場的領導地 位，數十年來一直為客戶提供優質穩定的服務，贏 得龐大的忠實客戶群。我們所有客戶，包括對價格 較為敏感的貨運代理客戶，普遍接受我們較高的定 價並同意提價續約。雖然如此，誠如我們在近年的 報告中所述， GETS 業務的主要不利因素乃其交易 流量從以往的托運人客戶轉移到主要的快遞客戶， 其往往可利用強大的議價能力與我們協商更低的定 價。主要快遞客戶的交易量持續飆升，預期將進一 步拉低我們的整體價格。我們正竭盡全力，在可行 情況下讓部分托運人客戶轉回直接使用我們的服 務。整體而言，鑒於二零二二年年初直至編製本報 告時的市場情況，加上對香港經濟的韌力有信心， 我們對 GETS 業務於二零二二年的前景審慎樂觀。 然而，正如大家所知， GETS 業務的實際表現將取 決於一個關鍵因素，即影響二零二二年 GETS 市場 的外圍貿易環境。