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September Hong Kong Jewelry Fair Adjusts Under Stressful Conditions

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Nothing could have prepared the organizers of the September Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair for both the U.S.-China trade war and the ongoing increasingly violent clashes between protesters and Hong Kong police. There’s no playbook for this level of disruption to the world’s largest jewelry and gem trade fair. A couple trade associations wanted the event postponed. One trade show association pressed for a 25% discount on exhibitor booths. Several exhibitors demanded to have their contracts voided.

September Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair

London-based Informa Markets, which owns the trade fair, refused to succumb to the pressure. One thing that was never considered was postponing the fair. It would have been impossible to reschedule and the larger exhibitors and buyers wanted it. In addition, it’s the last jewelry fair before the holiday season. Its importance to the global jewelry industry is undeniable. As one jewelry designer told me a few years ago, this fair fills the shelves of retail stores throughout the world.

Vishrut Gems

Instead, the leadership decided on a package of incentives for exhibitors and visitors. The two most notable was a telemarketing campaign with staff members contacting 40,000 past attendees to encourage them to attend. The second initiative was to provide 10,000 complimentary hotel room nights for buyers. Exhibitors were asked to submit the names of three significant buyers to offer them two free consecutive hotel room nights during the September fair show dates. Softer incentives included champagne and chocolates delivered to exhibitor booths and a “Happy Hour” following the close of each show day.

Anthony DeMarco

Incentives over discounts

David Bondi, senior VP of Informa Markets, said the hotel room incentive was designed as more than just a room giveaway. It was way for exhibitors to demonstrate that they appreciate the business of their most important buyers.

“It was not us just throwing on the table 10,000 rooms,” Bondi said during the show’s press conference on September 18 (the third day of the fair). “We wanted to give each exhibitor the chance to welcome the buyers.”

September Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair

Lawrence Ma, president of the Diamond Federation of Hong Kong and a member of the advisory board for the Hong Kong fair, said there was discussion whether to offer discounts and they decided that incentives are a better way for exhibitors to gain more business.

“If you cut all your costs at the most you’ll lose less money, but if you build opportunities for revenue then everybody will be happy,” Ma said. “I think this is a brilliant move by Informa Markets because it allowed all the exhibitors the chance of doing something special for their important customers. The reaction has been very positive.”

Anthony DeMarco

Celine Lau, director of Jewellery Fairs, Informa Markets, added that some buyers were contacting show staff members about attending after they saw the first two days of the show went off without any problems. She said her staff was helping these buyers get to the show.

Even before the protests business was expected to be slow, particularly from Mainland China, because of the U.S.-China trade war. The protests deterred others from coming, particularly from the U.S.

September Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair

Attendance declined as expected

Final attendance figures reveal this. Attendance totaled 39,988, down 26.4% from the prior year (54,142), which was closed for a day because of Super Typhoon Mangkhut. The biggest drop in buyers, as expected, came from China and the U.S. at 45% and a 23%, respectively.

Anthony DeMarco

Organizers and exhibitors said the major buyers did attend and that the those who did come were serious about purchasing.

The number of exhibitors totaled 3,601, down by approximately 100 from the prior year. Occasional empty booths could be seen in the venues, which meant that some exhibitors made their decision not to attend at the last minute. In addition, many exhibitors came with fewer goods.

Gemolithos

The fair itself was minimally affected by the protests, with the most chaotic days happening on two Sundays; September 15, the day before the fair opened, and September 22, the last day. The organizers were well prepared providing traffic information to attendees through its website and social media.

Anthony DeMarco

The annual fair is held in Hong Kong’s two largest convention facilities with staggered dates: September 16 – 20 at the AsiaWorld-Expo near the airport for gems, diamonds and other jewelry-making materials; and September 18 – 22 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in the city for finished jewelry.

Anthony DeMarco

For buyers who did attend the fair, they had access to the largest selection of diamonds, gems, pearls, coral and other jewelry-making materials that you would find anywhere in the world under one roof. The jewelry halls featured exhibitors from every part of the globe offering high jewelry and rare vintage pieces; mass produced fine jewelry from China, Hong Kong, Thailand and India; and affordable jewels. There’s even a separate show for fashion and costume jewelry.

Anthony DeMarco

Figures from the organizers don’t divide attendance among the two facilities but there was a discernible difference from AsiaWorld-Expo and the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, with the former appearing to have more visitors.

Anthony DeMarco

AsiaWorld-Expo

With lower expectations many of the exhibitors at the gems and materials portion of the fair were mostly satisfied. “Much better than expected,” said Gary Roskin, executive director of the International Colored Gemstone Association. He added that the only thing missing was the Chinese buyers. ICA, which represents the global colored gemstone industry, had a pavilion of about 40 gem dealers with other members exhibiting in other sections at both venues.

Anthony DeMarco

One of the ICA pavilion exhibitors, Charles Abouchar of Geneva-based Abouchar, which specializes in rare colored gems, said he does a lot of business in Asia so there was no question of him attending.

“The bigger companies are here,” he said.

Anthony DeMarco

Alexander Stufflebeam, president of Panjshir Valley Emeralds, which deals exclusively with emeralds from Afghanistan, said he had no hesitation in exhibiting as he has many clients in China and other parts of Asia.

Giancarlo Coscia of Corscia, specializes in pearls, coral and cameos, which is the traditional industry of Torre Del Greco, Italy, where the company is based. He said he is not only selling at the show, but he attends the South Sea and Tahitian pearl auctions that are held. He said there was no question he was attending as it is perhaps the most important show for the company.

Anthony DeMarco

The diamond dealers were more pessimistic. In addition to fewer visitors, the price for diamonds have been on downward trend for the past few years and the trade war has affected buyers from China.

Mishael Vardi of VMK Diamonds, an Israeli-based firm that specializes in rare fancy colored diamonds, said he expected business to be slow. “My only thought is how to cut my costs,” he said. “It’s a buyers’ market.” However, he added that exceptional pink, blue and green diamonds are still demanding high prices, as auctions in recent years have shown. Perhaps the most valuable, he says, are pink diamonds from the Argyle mine in Australia, which is scheduled to close in 2020. He added that the trade stalemate between the U.S. and China has hurt his business.

Steven Neckman

Olivier Duran of Avlas Diamonds, an Israeli firm that specializes in high-quality colorless diamonds, said there “was some hesitation” about coming to the fair. “Around 30 to 40 percent of our clients told us they weren’t coming,” he said. “We waited until the last moment to make our decision.”

Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre

The finished jewelry portion of the fair is where there was an observable drop in attendance. The main registration area had about half the number of people it normally does on opening day. Usually crowded corridors had plenty of open space.

Anthony DeMarco

Among the highlights, Bentley, the car company, was on hand promoting a new set of luxury jewelry created in partnership with Heinz Mayer, a German jewelry manufacturer. Frank Mayer was representing both companies. He said the only thing that may have stopped him from attending was whether his insurance company was going to cover his merchandise. This was a concern of a number of exhibitors prior to the show opening. Once that was cleared he has no problem with attending.

Jewelmer

“I absolutely had no concern about the protests,” he said. “The Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans is more dangerous.”

In the Fine Design Pavilion, where some of the most important high jewelry firms have booths, exhibitors were resigned to having fewer visitors. Still, this area was one of the most visited parts of the fair.

Anthony DeMarco

Ravi Lunia, CEO and creative director of Faidee, the prestigious dealer in Burmese rubies, said the protests were a deterrent for high end buyers. “For high jewelry, it has to be a feel-good environment.”

Divyanshu Navlakha of Sutra Jewels, a Houston-based company specializing in contemporary Indian-themed jewels, took the slower business in stride, saying it was expected.

Anthony DeMarco

Over at the Antiques & Vintage Jewelry Pavilion, the lack of buyers was noticeable. Stands that were usually jammed with customers were moderately busy. One person who had no concern regarding business was Ioannis Alexandris of Gemolithos. He said he made plenty of appointments prior to the show and most of the people showed up. In addition, he had a lot of new people entering the booth.

After a typhoon closed the show for a day in 2018 and the protests of this year, exhibitors and buyers are hoping that next year’s fair will be a lot less eventful.

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