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We had exhibited for 4 days at the HKTDC Hong Kong International Jewellery Show 2016, held at the Convention and exhibition centre from 03/03/2016 to 07/03/2016.
Anxiety caused by economic slowdown of China spread among the resource-rich nation, and also began to affect U.S.A. and Germany which is thought to be quite steady country. And now, uncertainty came out to the future of the American economy which has been pulling the world economy. Although the American consumer market that was expected as an export destination had been steady, the U.S. dollar had been bought. As a result, dollar became stronger in the past year; about 40％ against the Brazilian Real and 5％ against the Chinese Yuan. It also rose against the major emerging market currencies, too．In consequence, the strong dollar reduces the price competitiveness of the export company, and export seems to be decreased．
In addition, the sharp fall in crude oil prices seemed to give a great impact to the U.S. economy, then the oil and gas-related companies in North America went bankrupt one after another. And negative influence on wages, employment, and individual consumption by the deterioration of corporate performance is worried about．Furthermore, concerning stock plunge, FRB decided to raise the interest rate first time in 9 and half years． FRB showed a thought to coordinate the pace of the additional rise in interest rates gently if economic conditions did not improve although they groped for a quarterly rise in interest rates． In response to this announcement of FRB, Japanese Yen became stronger against U.S. dollar; from 120 yen to 111 yen against $1 level, 9 yen stronger in 10 days． The yield of the long-term interest rate which was more than 2 ％ in the U． S． has decreased rapidly, and the funds to seek a favorable investment destination are coming back to Japan from the U.S..
Exchange rate had experienced appreciation of the yen against US dollar from the beginning of this year, but had gone over 120 yen at a stretch by negative interest rate policy announcement of Bank of Japan．
And now, exchange rate seemed to be restored to the original level． Because the global anxiety on the stock price plunge is quite serious, the investment of the world has a strong tendency to buy the yen as the safer assets． And this tendency seems unstoppable only by the Bank of Japan． When I pay more attention to the Asian countries, an export slump is considerably serious in South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong. And the business confidence of each country seems to be considerably worsened by the slowdown of the China’s economy．
Under the influence of economic slowdown of China, China-related corporate went bankrupt one after another in the world． And, this China’s impact is likely to affect the world economy as well．This jewelry show, which was held under such a situation, seemed to express heavily business confidence of the world． The number of guests decreased compared to the previous year, especially the guest from China decreased sharply． Although many buyers showed up on the first day, I had an impression that the mood was not fantastic. Looking at the trend of well-selling goods, the sale of luxury goods became dull and it was not purchased if it was not a bargain items． The sale of high quality items was better than before, but it had to be value for money more than ever.
High quality merchandise is traded at a ceiling price in Japan now, and I canu2019t take my eyes off the trend of the future market price． Speaking of market price, the sale of the diamond at the airport side seemed to be very well． Price of diamond from Japan-related companies seemed inexpensive, and had attracted many buyers． As for the diamond, I suppose that market price would rise considerably near future in Japan．Although the Japanese pearl is at a high price level, it is also experienced satisfactory sales due to the popularity and good demand in China.
Currently, similar to the financial market, market price is fluctuating violently in a short term in our industry. I have heard from expert former trader, ”the market price that became too high will fall and the market price that fell too much will go up by all means.”, and it seems to apply at the present situation. Because market price is not stable, it is very important to judge if the market price is at the right level or where it lies．
As an aside, retail market seems considerably turned worse in Hong Kong. Relaxation of the visa for Chinese tourist by other countries, depreciation of Yuan against the Hong Kong Dollar, and restricting a multiple 2010 entry visa to protest against parallel imports from Shenzhen seemed to decrease the number of the visitors from China to the Hong Kong sharply． Such the riots which occurred on February 8th, which corresponds to the Lunar New Year’s Day, in Mongkok brought a very negative image of Hong Kong, also． From these factors, the retail market became a negative growth for the second consecutive year and it seems to turn worse than when the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) hit Hong Kong in 2003．Also Hong Kong hotel industry had been affected, and become in situation that has no choice to cut hotel fee from 10 to 15 percent, due to the decreased number of tourist． When I was walking on the street, I also got an impression that there were fewer tourists, compared to the previous year．
I had an impression that this jewelry show was in really tough situation by receiving the aftermath of the global economic slowdown． And, uncertainty of the situation in the future does not change．However, we will continue to strive hard to get over this situation together with all of you somehow．At last, we would like to give our sincere gratitude to all of you who visited our booth even under this harsh situation．
