Sharjah Jewellery Show sets stage for robust festive buying

Last week, during the course of the show from October 2 to 6, gold price was the highest on Friday, at $1,796 a troy ounce. It did fell back to $1,770 levels, before recovering to close the week at the $1,782 level.

The yellow metal has been on a gradual uptrend since August 1 this year, when the price stood at US$ 1,599, to reach the current level without major wild swings, thus seeing good demand for jewellery as well as bars and coins. Gold reached new all-time highs last week against the euro, Swiss franc and South African rand.

The Emirates NBD is bullish on gold, forecasting that once the yellow metal regains US$1,800, it will rise further and reach $2,000 within 2012 itself. Several exhibitors at the show also supported this projection, saying that the series of festivals that are coming up starting with Eid Al Adha will stoke further demand for gold and drive up prices.

Diamond too had many takers at the show, with the price for a one-carat stone almost doubling in the past decade, rising from $15,000 to $29,000, offering tremendous value for buyers.

The favourite market conditions coupled with the upcoming festive buying season resulted in the MidEast Watch & Jewellery Show attracting 53,539 visitors, higher than the figure of 51,748 registered during the autumn edition of the biannual show last year.

"The positive market sentiment and the excitement surrounding the festival season clearly reflected in the good visitor turnout and sales at the 33rd MidEast Watch & Jewellery Show. Returning consumer confidence was also amply visible, as gems and jewellery with high price tags too had takers in large numbers," said Mr Saif Mohammed Al Midfa, Director-General, Expo Centre Sharjah.

"The success of the show has already set the stage for the spring edition of the show, for which we are already receiving enquiries and bookings for the 34th MidEast Watch & Jewellery Show in the first quarter of next year," Mr Midfa added.

Being the only show in the region that is held twice a year, and one of the most popular and longest running jewellery fairs that is a premier event for the global jewellery industry, booking for the next edition generally starts even before a show ends.

"We need a bigger space and better location for the next edition of the show.. for which we have decided to confirm our participation now itself," said John Chakardemian, Yeprem Jewellery, Lebanon, while expressing his satisfaction in the turnout of quality visitors and overall show management.

Rising tourist arrivals is also a key factor that drives sales at the show. With the UAE expected to receive over 10 million visitors this year, the show is a must-visit event for many tourists for whom the country is synonymous with gold. It is estimated that 90 per cent of tourists buy gold from the UAE.

"Arabs and people from the Indian Subcontinent were our major buyers. Among them, there were a lot of tourists too... and thanks to the onsite money exchange facility during the show, they didn't face any problems with their purchases," said Mr Thappar, of Apple Greend diamonds from Japan.

Exciting prizes on all five days of the show and extensive collections of traditional and trendy gold and diamond jewellery at national pavilions from Hong Kong - China, India, Italy, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore also helped in attracting visitors to the show.

Special timings and a dedicated play area for children ensured that women could focus fully in choosing their favourite jewellery piece from more than 450 stalls spread across all the four halls of Expo Centre Sharjah.