There was a collective sigh of relief from local gem and jewelry dealers as the curtain rang down on the 15th Bangkok Gems and Jewelry Fair on March 8.
The feeling of gloom and doom created by depressed buying at recent local fairs had been replaced with a glow of optimism after generally solid sales were marked up during the four-day show. Though the number of overseas buyers was down slightly from last March’s fair (see table), there was still a 4.27 percent rise in visitors from last September’s fair, which exhibitors described as the slowest in years. For the March sow, a majority of exhibitors agreed, the buyers who came were also purchasing more than they had at earlier fairs.
“For us, business has been surprisingly good,” said Tom Banker of Gem Essence. “As slow as it seems, it’s much better than the last three shows.”
“I can immediately say that it is better than last September,” said Pairoj Nawawattanasub of Yoo Lim Gold.
“I think last year, there were more people than this year,” said Kanlaya Kittichokwattana of Anchalee Silver. “But this year, the people buy more.”
Probably the key reason for the disappointing results of last September’s show was the timing, which left buyers having to choose between the Bangkok fair and the major September fairs in Hong Kong. Many chose Hong Kong. A Jewish holiday also conflicted with the Bangkok show and kept many European and American customers away.
“I think even Christmas Day would have been a better date,” said Dean Gilliard of Am Thai Jewelry.
However, this year’s fair was tailor-made for buyers on trips to the Far East. The last day of the Bangkok fair overlapped with the first day of the Hong Kong International Jewelry show, which gave buyers ample opportunity to spend time at both venues.
“If they know the Hong Kong fair is after, they spend more time here,” said Pairoj.
In addition, the last day of the Bangkok fair was open to the public—which meant that there were plenty of local consumers ready to take the place of the industry buyers who had flown off to Hong Kong.
Among gem dealers, the consensus was that this fair drew fewer Asian buyers and many more Americans than events in the past two years. However, most exhibitors agreed that the Americans were in search of one thing: the lowest prices they could find.
“Americans like the cheap items,” said Rahamathullah of Peninsula Color Stone.
“They’re looking for inexpensive stuff,” said Gilliard, whose company manufacturers gold jewelry for export. How inexpensive? “Well,” Gilliard joked, “they’ll go all the way up to free. If you push them.”
Though the smiles on exhibitors’ faces were probably the most prominent feature of this Bangkok fair, several other trends were evident:
• Emeralds are making an impact on the local market. Companies selling emeralds reported solid business, including Emerald Mines, Peninsula Color Stone and a newcomer to Bangkok, Colombian Emerald Mines (see Fair Spotlight). Said Don Francisco Andrade C, president of the company’s Colombian home office, “This is the best market for big emeralds in the whole world.”
• Amber is becoming more popular locally. Yoo Lim, Rusconi and Wide Group sold amber set in silver jewelry, while SUC Trading was doing a good business in the loose resin. Due to a Chinese belief that wearing amber is beneficial to one’s health, SUC’s Peter Kral says the stone is more popular in Hong Kong—but that at the Bangkok fair, it finally appeared to be making inroads into the local market. A newcomer to the show was No. 1 Amber, which did very well selling silver and amber jewelry—especially considering its current new-kid-in-town status. CMS also offered a line of amber and garnet jewelry
• Square marcasite, which swept through the Bangkok shows in 1994, was still available—mostly in the same styles seen last year. One exception was Arxpo, which offered the freshest line of square-cut marcasite designs seen at the show.
• There was a definite increase in the number of jewelers offering bi-and-tri-color gold, and platinum and yellow gold combinations. Golay Buchel had a line of pink and yellow gold jewelry. Thai Jewelry Manufacturer had a line of petite pieces using platinum and platinum and gold set with small diamonds. The company’s owner, Samrit Siriaramsakul, said the platinum line was doing exceptionally well, since pieces were small and were wholesaling for between $100 and $200. James’ latest line was of platinum and yellow and rose gold. SCL Jewelry also displayed a line of tri-color gold.
Other companies with products that attracted interest from buyers included:
• Swarogems, which had not one but two major new products (see Fair Spotlight)
• Bijoux D’ Amour, which had a beautiful line of gold jewelry set with large semiprecious faceted stones. Mounted on the stones were decorated gold and diamond crisscrosses and heart-shapes.
• Royal Siam Mining and Manufacturing and VIP Jewelry, which offered mutual prong stone setting—seen on display by several Italian firms at the VicenzaOro I show in January. This method of setting is preferred by buyers who value the safety of a stone more than the ultra-clean looks provided by invisible setting.
• YNA International (Thailand), a wholesaler of South Sea pearls with an office in Bangkok, which offered animal designs like spiders and octopi gemset with pearl body enters.
• Pro Excel, a producer of packaging and displays, which offered its latest, super-cute line of gift-boxes—in the shapes of brightly-colored fish and seashells.
• STS Gems, which was heavily promoting pink tourmaline and mandarin garnet. According to Sanjay Goyal of STS, the company is sourcing pink tourmaline from a new mine in Brazil which has clear, clean material in sufficient quantities to satisfy expected demand. Sanjay also said iolite was doing well, “because of the negative impact of tanzanite—its unavailability and price rice’s.” The company was also promoting its grossularite garnet, a yellow-green stone which some stone manufacturers are calling Limonite Green Garnet. The stones are selling from $4 to $8 per carat.