Slow retail sales in China affects Hong Kong jewellery show

The 2nd Edition of HKTDC Hong Kong International Diamond, Gem & Pearl Show opened on 2nd March 2015 at AsiaWorld-Expo (AWE) with a record number of exhibitors, three new group pavilions and a debut zone dedicated to precious pearls. The fair is to be held from 2nd March to 6th March 2015.

The show update so far:

• Chinese buyers showing resistance

• Lesser number of Chinese buyers, mostly due to New Year

• Less appetite for goods, as retail sales is slower in China

• Loose gemstone: Tourmaline, Tanzanite, the hot picks of last year has received luke warm response.

• Even on third day of continuous slowdown, most diamond sellers not reducing prices, staying strong on prices. This may be because they have high cost of purchase which doesn’t make it feasible to reduce prices in slow markets.

• CVD Diamonds / Lab grown diamonds stays hot topic of discussion, as mixing, fake certificates stays matter of concern for buyers

• Around 25-30 Indian companies have decided to list diamond inventory on Rap price list and not to show any discounts, which constitute to 50-60 per cent of inventory levels on RAPNET. This means buyer would require contacting sellers directly to know the discounts/actual selling price on interested goods. This ideally should hamper the Rap Price List accuracy, Rapaport won’t have enough data of market for average pricing and goods trading price.