Swire's Trading & Industrial activities encompass a wide spectrum of business interests, ranging from apparel and automotive trading to manufacturing and materials handling. The group has major bulk transport operations in Australia and Papua New Guinea.

Swire Resources is a major distributor and retailer of sports and lifestyle shoes and apparel in Hong Kong, Macau and Mainland China. It operates over 180 retail stores, including outlets of Marathon Sports, GigaSports, Rockport and Columbia. In Taiwan, the Taikoo Motors Group is a leading importer and distributor of passenger and commercial vehicles. Swire Motors has just launched its exclusive Fiat / Alpha Romeo dealership in Hong Kong.

On the industrial side, the Swire group has been involved in paint production since the 1930s and today manufactures paint in Mainland China as a joint venture with AkzoNobel. Through subsidiary Steamships Trading, Swire also has an interest in the manufacture and distribution of personal care items in Papua New Guinea.

Swire subsidiary Kalari operates specialised bulk and low-density storage and distribution services throughout Australia for some of the country's best-known manufacturers and mining companies. In Papua New Guinea, EWT (East-West Transport) is one of the country's leading providers of long-haul transport services. Swire operates major waste handling and recycling services in Australia, where subsidiary Alex Fraser is the country's leading construction and demolition waste recycling expert.

Vogue Laundry, a wholly-owned Cathay Pacific subsidiary, operates Asia's largest single-site laundry in Hong Kong and Swire also has an interest in China Pacific Laundry Services in Taiwan. In Papua New Guinea, Steamships Trading Company wholly owns IT and communications specialist Datec, the country's largest Internet Services Provider.