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Hong Kong
By Liana Cafolla
The Hong Kong International Jewellery Show ended its five-day run on March 9. The show attracted more than 42,000 buyers from 140 countries and regions, setting an attendance record, according to the organizer, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC). The show, covering more than 1 million square feet of exhibit space, is billed as Asia’s biggest jewelry event and the world’s second-largest jewelry fair. The total number of buyers increased by almost 11 percent compared with the 2012 show, with buyers from emerging markets up 18 percent year on year. Attendance from Mainland China posted the biggest gains, up 24 percent from 2012. Buyers from India and Russia were both up around 16 percent from the previous year, thanks to continuing growth in the size of the middle class in these countries and a fast-growing increase in the number of sales channels. The number of exhibitors at this year’s show — 3,300 exhibitors from 49 countries — also broke previous records. Feedback from the show revealed cautious market optimism among attendees. A survey about market prospects, conducted by the HKTDC of 800 buyers and exhibitors, found 85 percent expecting growing or steady turnover and 76 percent reporting that 2013’s jewelry market is better than or as good as 2012. Seventy percent of survey respondents expected production and procurement costs to rise, and about 30 percent would consider raising their product prices. Most respondents also expect significant growth in sales to Mainland China, India, Russia and member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the next two years, with more than 50 percent considering Mainland China as the market with the highest growth potential. Optimism about emerging market demand was echoed by De Beers, which issued a statement on February 15 in which it said it expected “moderate growth in diamond jewelry demand,” according to a report in the South China Morning Post. “This will be supported primarily by a more positive picture emerging from China and India compared to 2012,” said the statement.
Sales of polished diamonds in all categories were good at the show, said Fifi Lee, marketing executive with Karp Jewellery Manufacturing Hong Kong Ltd., although she noted there was “no big change” compared with the 2012 show. A spokesman for Dharam Creations (HK) Ltd., a diamond importer, exporter, wholesaler and retailer that has been exhibiting at the show for the past six or seven years, said the show was “very good” and sales were better than in 2012. Lili Diamonds, which has exhibited at the show for the past ten years, said ring sales in sizes of 10 carats upward did particularly well. “We met a few potential customers who we will follow up with,” said the company’s Elza Chu, adding that the market seems to be improving. “Most of the customers were from India and they were looking for stones in low colors.”
On the political front, uneasiness continues to threaten the region’s stability, with neither China nor Japan showing signs of backing down over their territorial dispute in the South China Sea. Beijing announced its intention to send a survey team at an “appropriate time” to the disputed islands, known as the Diaoyus by the Chinese and the Senkakus by the Japanese. Should China set foot on the islands, which are under Japanese control, the situation could deteriorate further, according to observers.
Haywards of Hong Kong is a bespoke jeweler specializing in engagement rings and diamond jewelry, with a design showroom on Hong Kong’s prestigious Hollywood Road. Co-founder David Nazer said that, typically, 50 percent of the company’s sales are fancies, particularly cushion and princess cuts in 1 carat to 1.50 carats. “We tend to do higher colors for fancies,” he said, adding that Haywards rarely sells a color lower than G. While most of his clientele is comprised of expatriates, he noted that his Mainland customers have different, almost opposite, tastes, often preferring rounds in low colors with high clarity. Engagement-ring buyers are increasingly well educated about diamonds, noted Nathalie Melville, creative director of the Hong Kong–based Melville Fine Jewellery, which specializes in custom fine jewelry commissions. She said that customers were “leaning toward the hearts-and-arrows cut. Our clients are often well informed when they come to us — having done their homework — and they are actively seeking both the design ethos as well as the traceable/ethical angle for which we are known.” She has seen increased interest in vintage-style designs for engagement rings, for which she thinks oval, cushion and emerald cuts are best suited.Article from the Rapaport Magazine - April 2013. To subscribe click here.
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