The September Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair has not churned very encouraging sales for exhibitors, yet nevertheless, the exhibitors are not complaining. The awareness of the rising prices of gold and diamonds, the uncertain US and European economies and a possibility of low sales, have the exhibitors’ much satisfied. Local big jewellery players like Peter Lam, Aarun Shun were happy with the overall response and were unperturbed by market slowdown.
There were almost 50,000 visitors attending the show, including new buyers from Brazil, Turkey,etc. There was a large number of Asian buyers. With the U.S. and European demand being affected largely due to market uncertainty, exhibitors believed the Asian markets are to be the major consuming centres of the world, as such, making participation at the show important for them, even if only for networking.
Overall, ‘show was 30 percent lower over last year. There was a mixed response from the jewellery exhibitors, but the sales were satisfactory. The economic crunch was reflected in the fact that buyers preferred to stay away from fancy diamonds, and consider price over quality in their buying decisions. But exhibitors feel this to be a temporary phase.
The uncertain conditions of the European and American economy, the market crash had a negative impact on purchasing, which led to currency fluctuations and added difficulty for buyers. The US Dollar strengthened by almost 10percent, in 10 days against Indian Rupee which brought resistance from Indian buyers at the show, (who were significant contributors to diamond purchase at the show).