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Hong Kong Riots Cast Cloud over Show
Aug 13, 2019 5:17 AM
By Joshua Freedman
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RAPAPORT... Diamond traders have raised concerns ahead of next month’s Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair, as mass protests have caused chaos and dented local demand.
The show will still take place as planned, organizers
Informa Markets confirmed to Rapaport News Friday. However, access to the venues is currently difficult,
according to dealers, who are pinning their hopes on unrest in the city receding by the
time the event begins on September 16.
“You don’t know where to go in Hong Kong right now,” said Vincent
Yiu, director of Hong Kong-based Brilliant Trading Company, which plans to
exhibit at the fair. “There are protesters literally in all areas. If it
happened today, I don’t think the show would be good.” The riots are likely to
calm down when protesters return to school and university in September, he
added.
Anti-government demonstrations began in June, and have
developed into large-scale civil disobedience across the city center, including
near the show venues.
Hong Kong International Airport suspended departures for periods of Monday and Tuesday, after campaigners held a sit-in lasting several days. The site, as
well as being the main entry point for visitors, is located next to AsiaWorld-Expo,
where the loose-diamond exhibition will run from September 16 to 20.
Activists
and police officers have also clashed near the Hong Kong Convention &
Exhibition Centre in the Wan Chai area, which will host the jewelry section of
the show from September 18 to 22.
“The impact [of the protests] is very, very negative,” said
Ephraim Zion, founder of Hong Kong-based high-end jeweler Dehres. “Sentiment is
very, very bad. We don’t know what’s going to happen. I’ve already been
informed by a few clients that they’re not coming [to the exhibition]. The show
will happen no matter what, [but] I expect very few people to come.”
Zion said he wouldn’t attend the show if it were today, but
expects the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to take action if the protests
continue for much longer. Meanwhile, sales at his domestic retail clients have
“plummeted,” as the unrest has forced stores to shut, Zion added. “There is
some demand from overseas, but locally, it’s dead,” he explained.
The riots have disrupted the municipality’s Mass Transit
Railway (MTR), with videos appearing on the internet showing violence inside
underground stations. The US State Department raised its travel warning for
Hong Kong to level two last week, urging visitors to “exercise increased
caution” due to civil unrest.
“We recognize the challenges we face given the recent public
incidents in Hong Kong, but rest assured we have prepared — and are constantly
updating and adjusting — a comprehensive contingency plan in partnership and in
close coordination with all industry stakeholders,” a spokesperson for Informa
said.
The procedures cover “virtually every scenario during the
different phases of our show,” explained Informa, which has operated the event
since acquiring UBM, the former owner, last year. The plans were already in place for
the June edition of the fair, a smaller event, which “went off without a
hitch,” the company added.
The September exhibition, a key event for trading goods
ahead of the holiday season, comes amid generally weak consumer demand in
greater China. Local jewelry sales have declined due to Beijing’s tariff
dispute with the US, with the protests further fueling the downturn. The Chinese
yuan has depreciated 2.6% against the Hong Kong dollar since January 1,
reducing the spending power of tourists visiting from the mainland.
“The last three quarters [have] been quite challenging for
the industry, and this is the very reason why exhibitors, buyers and
stakeholders across the entire business spectrum are fully engaged to get the
most out of the September fair,” Informa added.
Image: Protesters inside Hong Kong International Airport last week. (Shutterstock)
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Tags:
AsiaWorld-Expo, Brilliant Trading Company, China, Dehres, Ephraim Zion, events, Hong Kong, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair, Informa, Informa Markets, Joshua Freedman, Mass Transit Railway, MTR, Rapaport News, shows, trade fairs, Trade Shows, UBM, US State Department, Vincent Yiu, Wan Chai, Yuan
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