Li & Fung to become Pakistan’s major purchaser now
ISLAMABAD – Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce, Textile, Industries, Production and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood Friday said that a prominent Chinese company has expressed its intention to enhance purchasing from Pakistan up to 1 billion, which would further help promoting the industrial productivity.
Addressing a press conference along with Chinese Ambassador Jao Ying, Dawood said Li & Fung, a Chinese outfit – a 134 year-old Hong Kong based company which operates in various countries of the world and deals with business houses for purchasing products and sells them across the world, would be purchasing from Pakistan.
Federal Secretary Ministry of Commerce Ahmad Nawaz Sukhera, senior officials of ministries of textile, industries and Board of Investment were also present on the occasion.
Li & Fung Limited is a Hong Kong based supply chain manager primarily for US and EU brands, department stores, hypermarkets, specialty stores, catalogue-led companies, and e-commerce sites.
Li & Fung was founded in 1906 in Canton and is headquartered in Hong Kong. As of 2016, apparel makes up around two-thirds of the business, with furniture and home furnishings, beauty and personal care products, fashion accessories and general merchandising, such as seasonal gifts, constituting the rest.
Today, Li & Fung employs about 22,000 people worldwide. It does product design and development, raw materials and factory sourcing and capacity building, vendor compliance and distribution. It has over 250 offices in 40 markets. It works with 15,000 suppliers to service 8,000 customers.
On 13 February 2017, it is no longer a constituent of Hang Seng Index.
Li & Fung was founded against a backdrop of great change in China. Fung Pak-Liu, an English teacher, and Li To-Ming, a merchant, established Li & Fung in 1906 as one of the first companies financed solely by Chinese capital to export to the West.
This two-person startup initially focused on trading porcelain and silk from China before diversifying into bamboo and rattan ware, jade and other handicrafts. With the war in China intensifying, Fung Hon-Chu, grandfather of our current CEO, moved from Guangzhou to Hong Kong to set up Li & Fung’s first overseas branch, a small 12-person team in Central.
From these humble beginnings, Li & Fung now operates one of the most extensive global supply chain networks in the world. With some 17,000 people in more than 230 offices and distribution centers across 40 different markets, we use our extensive global reach, depth of experience, market knowledge, and technology to help brands and retailers respond quickly to evolving consumer and production trends.
Over 111-plus years, despite major changes and disruptions, innovation and creativity continues to drive our business. Connecting bright minds and crowdsourcing ideas, using design thinking, collaborative work spaces and rapid prototyping are just some of the ways we innovate at Li & Fung every day.
