Hong Kong: The Hong Kong International Diamond, Gem & Pearl Show, which ran from February 28 and closed March 4, was the first major gem show this year, and may signal a trend in the global diamond industry and in Asian markets specifically.
Chairman of the Israel Diamond Institute Group of Companies (IDI) Shmuel Schnizter said, “Our general impression is of a certain improvement in the Far East markets. I spoke to Lawrence Yung-yi Ma, President of the Diamond Federation of Hong Kong, and he said that there was a rise in the number of visitors this year. There were more Chinese visitors this year than in previous years, and there were also visitors from Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and more. The numbers are not quite there yet, but it’s still encouraging. These buyers, in addition to the Indian buyers, brought a good amount of goods from the Israeli exhibitors”.
“All in all, business is on the rise. From talks I had with Chinese buyers and buyers from Hong Kong who market their goods in China, I deduced an improvement. I hope this is a god indication for what’s to come in the coming months”.
The Israel Diamond Pavilion, Schnizter said, saw a very good turnout: “Manager of the Marketing Department Ira Tsirlina and our IDI local staff in Hong Kong, headed by Noa Perdo, catered to the Israeli exhibitors and the visitors. The GET DIAMONDS terminals were very busy with first-time as well as returning visitors”.
IDI Manager of the Marketing Department Ira Tsirlina said, “the Israel Diamond Pavilion was very busy throughout the show, even after the HKTDC Hong Kong International Jewellery Show (March 2-6) opened. This year, we offered our visitors, in addition to refreshments and charging stations for their phones, a gaming station with a cool prize-bearing diamond game. My impression is that the traffic this year was more robust than in Hong Kong March 2016”.
The Israel Diamond Pavilion, organized by the IDI, measured 1200 square meters and hosted approximately 80 companies at the Hong Kong International Diamond, Gem & Pearl Show. Ten additional Israeli companies exhibited in other locations throughout the show. For the second year in a row, the Israel Diamond Pavilion featured three GET DIAMONDS terminals – an innovative online B2B trading platform that enables buyers to search a computerized database in both English and Chinese of all goods offered by Israeli exhibitors at the show. Buyers were also able to access the Get Diamond platform on their smartphones.
