The fair officially opened two days earlier at the AsiaWorld-Expo (AWE) convention center near the Hong Kong international airport with companies that specialize in diamonds, gems, pearls and other jewelry making materials. However, the jewelry portion of the fair, which displays products ranging from the most basic to the most exclusive, marks the true start of the annual event.
It is one of the world’s largest jewelry and gem fairs, if not the largest, and with the continued economic growth in China and other Asian markets, it is one of the most important events on the jewelry industry calendar. UBM Asia, which owns and operates the trade show, said in terms of exhibitors, 3,700, it is the largest in the fair’s history. Whether that results in more buyers attending will be known in the next few days.
It is also the most international of all jewelry shows. At any given moment somewhere on the 135,000 square meters of exhibit space you will see Japanese pearl jewelry exhibitors doing business with retailers from Dubai, Chinese jewelry manufacturers selling to South American distributors and Polish amber jewelers selling to the Chinese market. In addition, it’s a true business show. There are few new product launches or big corporate events. All of the action is done at the booths.
The day at HKCEC began with a large number of people in registration lines and even larger numbers of buyers waiting in long lines for the doors to fair to open. A large crowd also gathered around the dragon dance performers just as the doors opened to the fair.
While all of the trading is going on, Super Typhoon Mangkhut is barreling towards Hong Kong, described as a Signal 9 storm, among the strongest on the 10-plus point scale. If it does hit Hong Kong and remains a Category 9, the show will at least temporarily close Sunday.
The materials portion of the show at the AWE will end Sunday and the finished jewelry at the HKCEC will run till Tuesday.