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ALTHOUGH NEW VACCINES HERALD A POSSIBLE END TO COVID CRISIS, JEWELERY INDUSTRY REMAINS CAUTIOUS HEADING INTO 2021

 

With the Thanksgiving weekend in the United States set to jumpstart the holiday shopping season, the diamond and jewelry sectors are beginning to consider prospects for 2021, after wrapping up what certainly for most was the most tumultuous and bizarre year in living memory.

November actually brought some promising news, with announcements by at least three major drug manufacturers about apparently successful trials of COVID-19 vaccines, for which once official approval is granted by national authorities will be ready for mass distribution—some already before the end of the year, but mostly during the first half of 2021. This raises the tantalizing possibility of herd immunity eventually being achieved in the general population, the global pandemic being suppressed and the world returning to a modicum of normal.

What is a relatively clear however, is that an easing of health-related restrictions is still some way off, although it is speculative at best at this stage to predict whether that will before the summer or only later in the year. And, even then, it is difficult to forecast whether a return to normal means going back to what existed prior to 2020, or whether the new normal will include a measure of restrictions that will need to be enforced over the long-term.

TRADE SHOWS CANCELED OR POSTPONED

For certain jewelry and gemstone trade show organizers, and particularly of those events taking place during the first part of the year, the imminent arrival of COVID vaccine does not justify the risk of sticking to a normal schedule. Among those bodies that have already announced changes is the Italian Exhibition Group, which for years has hosted the industry’s first major annual event, the VICENZAORO January show. It has already announced that this will now be put until March 12 to 16.

Following suit was the German trade show Inhorgenta, which announced it would be moving from its traditional February slot to April 15-19, and the show would now cover five days instead of three.

“The one-time decision to postpone Inhorgenta Munich to April makes allowances for the pandemic and helps us to carry out a safe trade fair for everyone involved in spring 2021,” explained Joachim Duenkelmann, managing director of Germany’s Federal Association of Jewelers.

The Tucson gem shows, traditionally the jewelry industry’s most well attended event each January looks like it will not be held in 2021.

Incorporating a series of different fair, some major and others smaller, the gemstone fairs in Tucson, Arizona, have for years collectively represented the largest happening in the industry worldwide during the first two months of  the year. It is still questionable whether any will be held in 2021.

Among the larger gem shows that have already been cancelled are the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, originally scheduled for Feb. 1-14; the Gem & Jewelry Exchange, or GJX, originally scheduled for Feb. 2-6, 2021; and JCK Tucson, originally scheduled for February 3-6.

The American Gem Trade Association has still not announced whether its Tucson GemFair, scheduled for February 2-7, will still go ahead.

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HOLIDAY SALES SEASON PROCEEDS DESPITE LOCKDOWNS

What will be proceeding are holiday season sales. While likely to be impacted significantly by the pandemic and the virtual lockdown that have been enforced in many Northern Hemisphere countries, with infection rates spiking in the colder weather, studies uniformly are indicating that the public still has an appetite for jewelry.

A study conducted by the Platinum Guild International (PGI), which looked at jewelry consumer sentiment, mirrored a similar study by De Beers.  It compared consumers’ willingness to spend more or the same on various luxury items during COVID-19 and those willing to spend less, and indicates a willingness by consumers in the US, China and India to spend more on at least one luxury item during the pandemic. The results are especially notable in China, where consumers expressed a willingness to spend more on 10 luxury categories.

Chinese and Indian buyers represent the two most promising markets for near-term jewellery sales, the PGI study indicated. 

The jewellery category ranks first among all 19 luxury items among Chinese consumers, and second among Indian consumers, proof of the integral role in both cultures where precious jewellery tends to have a store of value and serves as a marker of social and personal milestones in life.

The report shows that personal meaning is the most crucial driver in all major markets, with consumers viewing acquiring and wearing pieces of fine jewelry as a symbol of their affection for their loved ones and bonds formed in those relationships. As a vessel of love and meaning, platinum jewellery holds a special place as consumers seek to reaffirm their relationships following a long period of anxiety.

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