The 27th Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair was held from 21 - 27 of September 2009 in the AsiaWorld-Expo building and the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre building. The fair's increase in popularity required the use of these two colossal exhibitions venues and is the only exhibition in Hong Kong that uses both venues. This year the total exhibition space was expanded to 120,000 square metres, which is a 25% increase compared with last year. The exhibitors at AsiaWorld-Expo building showcased raw materials including diamonds, pearls, coloured gemstones, equipment and packaging, while the exhibitors at Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre building showcased only finished jewellery.
Over 3,000 exhibitors from 44 countries participated this year, making the Fair the largest jewellery event in the world and the largest fair ever organised in Hong Kong. Companies from Hong Kong account for over 40% of the Fair exhibitors but among overseas participants, Thailand was the largest contributor with 301 companies attending. Among the European countries, Italy had the biggest contingent of exhibitors while 150 exhibitors from the US joined the Fair this year. The number of Indian companies doubled from last year to 129 companies this year.
As a precursor to the Fair, Robert Wan Tahiti Perles in conjunction with Tahiti Perles Consortium held a joint pearl auction on 19 - 20 September 2009 on the second floor of the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre. The Tahitian pearls were from the southern Pacific Ocean Island’s of French Polynesia, which are famous for their large size and high lustre black, silver and peacock colours. The other major pearl event was the Fair curtain closer held on 26 – 28 September 2009 for the Paspaley Pearling Co pearl auction. Nick Paspaley is attributed for developing pearl farming in Australia into a multi million dollar industry for South Sea Pearl farms located in the northwest coastal areas of Australia. Along with these events there were also series of other special events organised during the Fair period including the opening ceremony, fair receptions, jewellery parade and several seminars.
Sales at the Fair reflect the current state of the global economy and indicated full recovery is still ahead of us. Almost all exhibitors at the show reported a decreased level of sales and expressed a certain amount of discontent with the show. Contrary to the spirit of optimism sensed in the weeks leading to the show, expectations had decreased by the end of the opening day. Even though the Fair had expanded in floor area and number of exhibitors, there were fewer visitors this year compared to last year. In comparison just over 36,000 visitors attended this year compared to last years total of 37,276 visitors.
Two trends that caught the eye were the increased use of pearls and yellow diamonds. The price of pearls has fallen dramatically in the past year and jewellery designers appear to have taken advantage of this. As a result, pearl jewellery has visibly increased its presence among other jewellery types and was seen in the display cases of almost all companies.
