There is a sharp decrease in the level of dependence on support from Hong Kong by businesses operating in the Pearl River Delta (PRD), from 10 years ago, a survey by the Hong Kong-based Chinese Manufacturers' Association (CMA) showed Tuesday.

The survey, titled "Business outlook for CMC members operating in the PRD" and conducted between March and April this year, aims to gain insights into the impact of the post-financial tsunami period on CMA members and their strategies for tiding over the difficulties, the association said.

Among the 3,000-odd members of the association, 222 responded to the survey and 160 of these respondents are engaged in manufacturing businesses in the PRD.

Speaking at a media briefing, CMA President David Wong said manufacturers operating in the PRD used to rely heavily on the support from Hong Kong, particularly in areas like strategic management, sales and marketing, and capital finance.

However, the survey found that Hong Kong's function in providing support tends to diminish, and operation in the PRD has become increasingly localized in the past 10 years, Wong said.

Though a slow process still running, the long-term impact of the change on Hong Kong's trade, finance, and logistics industries should not be under-estimated, he said.

The survey also found 44.9 percent of the responding companies anticipated the export orders could not reach the normal levels of 2006-2008 this year while 71.5 percent estimated the number of orders this year would remain the same as that of last year or experience a growth, in contrast to a drop in the number of orders expected by 80 percent of the responding companies in 2009. E