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We had exhibited at HKTDC Hong Kong International Jewellery Show 2018, held at Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre for 5 days from 01/03/2018 to 05/03/2018．
The current world economy has been greatly affected by the United States． And, in February, the world financial market has been shaken by the US．Long-term interest rate rose due to the prediction of price hike in the US economy, and triggered the stock plunge. When the US long-term interest rates rose to a level approaching 3％, the US stocks fell sharply. Uncertainty also rose in the future of Japanese stock market, then the Nikkei average price plummeted. And the yen had been bought for risk hedge; the exchange rate which had been on the 112 yen level rose to the 105 yen level．Generally speaking, if the interest rate rises in the US, the yen becomes weaker from the difference in interest rates. But, it is not the case this time．
Rise in the interest rate is just reflecting the weak US government bonds caused by scattering money into the market by FRB. Since the interest rate is rising, investors will not invest in the stock market．Because they cannot make profit using borrowed money. This is the cause of yen appreciation． Some says if the trend of relinquishing US government bonds and dollars continues from the feeling of high interest rate in the future, Yen become 95 levels against 1 dollar in the next 3 months. And the other says if dollar buying will be appreciated by concerning the difference in interest rate between US and Japan in the medium term, yen become 114 levels against 1 dollar．Thus, the future trend will become highly important．
The items we deal with are also greatly affected by the exchange rate． And it seems necessary to pay attention to this situation, because we need to change depending upon the future exchange rate. As a result of the above, the stock price plummeted even in the global stock market, causing the currency depreciation of emerging countries．These things happened just before the jewelry show. Since Chinese or buyers from other emerging countries were the main visitors, this HKTDC show was held in a little bit bad mood．
I think that this show was heavily influenced in this situation written above. The atmosphere of the exhibition was not so good from the first day, and visitors were fewer than before．The Japan Pavilion, which is very popular and has attracted many buyers, was also dispersed in 4 places this time, so it seemed that visitors were also dispersed and looked a little quiet．
Also, it looked that buyers were purchased more carefully than before, and I had an impression that buying intention had not been made unless it was particularly worth the money. Also, it seemed like expensive merchandise was severely checked, as the sale of expensive items were not very good. However, I think that the medium to low price items were purchased more than before．It seemed that there were many people who try to sell large number of items which is easier to sell by the price range, in order to survive even in this current global economic downturn．
During this exhibition, President Trump announced a protectionist policy to impose additional tariffs of 25％ and 10％ on steel and aluminum respectively and caused wide repercussions to the world． The trade policy which was not hesitate to implement the trade war invited the uncertain future of the economy of the United States, and dollar selling against major currencies such as yen had been continued． Observations that the global economy will slow down due to trade friction are strengthening, and the world economy may become confusing more and more in the future．
As the uncertainty of the future increases, jewelry show or our industry might have to be changed. Although we had many visitors this time at our booth, we believe that further changes are necessary to meet everyone’s expectations．We would like to give our sincere gratitude to who visited our booth, and looking forward to seeing you at the next fair．
