Lankan gems steal the limelight at Beijing show

The Sri Lanka Embassy in Beijing together with the National Gem and Jewellery Authority and the Gem and Jewellery Association organised an innovative Sri Lanka Pavilion at the 11th International Gem and Jewellery Fair 2010 from November 11 to 15 at the China International Exhibition Centre in Beijing.

With the participation of 34 exhibitors, Sri Lanka made its biggest presence ever on the Chinese soil, showcasing an eye-catching array of gems and jewellery from the land dubbed as Rathnadeepa in a fittingly attractive 'Sri Lanka Pavilion'. The organizers accorded a special recognition to Sri Lanka participation by inviting Ambassador Karunathilaka Amunugama as a special guest at the opening ceremony.

With 42,000 square metres of floor space, 2,100 booths, with 961 enterprises participating, the 2010 fair became the largest and highest-level fair hosted in Beijing. During the past 10 years. The jewellery fair has grown from a domestic jewellery exhibition of upto 100 booths to today's large scale expo, becoming the best platform for brand promotion, information exchange, commerce negotiation, new product releases and cultural communication in the jewellery industry in China. In this truly international fair, countries including Sri Lanka, Belgium, Thailand,, Germany, Brazil, India, France, Switzerland, the International Coloured Gemstone Association (ICA) group and others showcased the best collection in the international section of the Fair.

The steady growing domestic demands and prosperity of international trade market bring along the fast development of China gem and jewellery industry. China, at the same time of keeping its position as a large manufacturer and exporter of gem and jewellery products, is gradually growing to be a major consumption market of gem and jewellery products. Despite the economic challenges last year, China's jewellery consumer market performed well. Analysts estimate that China's domestic jewellery consumption this year will grow by 16 percent, making China an oasis of global jewellery sales.

In recent years, China's economy has been growing at a high speed, the improvement of per capita consumption level brings along the production and consumption of luxuries including gem and jewellery which is becoming the third consumption commodity just following housing and automobiles.

Judging from the consumption demands, we can see that gem and jewellery products rely mainly on the three sources of demands to pull the consumption increase, which include wedding celebration, daily consumption and inbound foreign tourists.

From the viewpoint of industrial development environment, Chinese government has continually perfected the industrial development environment to encourage and expand the domestic gem and jewellery industry.

Judged from the saturation of market, the rural regions of China have a great potential for gem and jewellery consumption besides the enormous growth space on the consumption level retained by urban residents.

In naming a few reasons factoring in for Chinese gems and jewellery industry to maintain its growth: firstly, jewellery is traditionally a luxury item of consumption and demand for jewellery is highly elastic to income.

As China's per capita disposable income rises, jewellery has emerged as a highly sought after item of consumption. Secondly, the appeal for jewellery is the highest among younger consumer sections. China's young working age population is quite high. There is also a large demand from the matrimonial market. Every year, about 18 - 22 million people in China get married. Total annual wedding expenses in China are estimated at RMB 300 billion. Even if one-tenth of that is used for jewellery consumption, the figure is an enormous RMB 30 billion (about US $ 3.1 billion).

The younger consumer section is also fashion-conscious, and the rate of design obsolescence is fast, thereby helping innovation and sales. The high growth of diamond and platinum jewellery witnessed in the Chinese market after the initial rush for gold in the 1980s can be attributed to the desire for new and trendy ornaments among the younger consumers.

According to consumer research of Diamond Trading Company (DTC), three out of four brides in Beijing and Shanghai expect their husbands to buy them diamond wedding rings. Wedding rings account for one-third of all diamond sales in China. The Embassy goal is to divert this demand to coloured stones so that in future the matrimonial market will mainly focus on coloured stones especially the Sapphires coming from the Sapphire Capital of the world, Sri Lanka.

Then the foreign tourist arrivals in China are also one of the major categories adding to the ever increasing jewellery demand. Every year over 30 million travellers from all around the world visit China, and it has been estimated that their annual spending on Chinese jewellery is over RMB 15 billion. Due to a combination of all these factors, it is predicted by industry sources that by 2010, China's jewellery consumption at the existing rate of growth, will exceed US $ 35 billion, making China the second largest consumer nation in the world.

Considering all these factors the Embassy embarked on a prolific and rewarding expedition by bringing in the Gem and Jewellery Trade Authorities of China to have a closer cooperation with the Sri Lanka Embassy, and the counterpart Sri Lankan Associations and the National Gem and Jewellery Association (NGJA).

During the visit to Sri Lanka, in 2008 the Gem and Jewellery Association of Sri Lanka signed an MoU with the Gem and Jewellery Trade Association of China (GAC), the national association for the industry, approved by the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the People's Republic of China for increased cooperation towards mutual growth and for the promotion of gem and jewellery trade between the two countries.

The Embassy was able to make use of its good relations with GAC to obtain concessions to a greater extent for Sri Lanka participation at Gem and Jewellery Fairs organised by the Gem and Jewellery Trade Association of China (GAC), firstly at the Shanghai Jewellery Fair 2010 then at Shenyang Jewellery Show and the latest at the China International Jewellery Fair in Beijing thus providing greater opportunities for the industry to join under one Sri Lanka Pavilion.

During the Beijing show, the Sri Lanka gemstones, Cat's Eye, Ruby and Sapphire showcased by Sri Lanka became a main attraction and this trend was well noticeable at almost every fair Sri Lanka participated bringing in results beyond expectations.The participation at these fairs are organized by the Embassy, together with the National Gem and jewellery Authority and with the support of the Sri Lanka Consulate in Shanghai. During the year 2010 to date the Embassy of Sri Lankan organized Sri Lanka participation at more than 15 Fairs across China including Beijing, Shanghai, Dalian, Shenzhen, Chongchin, Hangzhou, Tianjin, Nanning, Chengdu and Kunming capturing the attentiveness and the interest of the Chinese luxury consumers to the best coloured stones of the world.

The joint effort of Embassy of Beijing, Sri Lanka Consulates in Shanghai and Chengdu, NGJA and the Gem and Jewellery Association of Sri Lanka to reach out to the Chinese consumers on gem and jewellery products of Sri Lanka through media events, trade fairs and through chain stores, is gradually paying off as Chinese consumers, especially the ones in large cities have come to know and even have fallen totally for the coloured stones (Gems) for its delicate style and quality and the consumption is now undergoing a healthy development in China.

During the Beijing show, the Embassy arranged a series of discussions with the organizers for the officials of National Gem and Jewellery Authority and Gem and Jewellery Association who visited China along with the exhibitors and they met officials of the Gem and Jewellery Trade Association of China in order to create new avenues to exchange market expertise in jewellery design, and training.