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30th JAPAN BEST JEWELLERY WEARER AWARDS CEREMONY
Let me express the greetings of the season, and I would like to express my gratitude for the extraordinary support throughout last year． I hope this year will bring you much success and joy． Also, I appreciate your contribution to our development for the company, and I look forward to working with you this year．
We had exhibited at 30th International Jewelry Tokyo, held at Tokyo Big Sight for 4 days from 2301/2019 to 26/01/2019．
The slowdown observation of the global economy is strengthening, and it is predicted the prospects of economy in 2019 are reported to be harsh． Economic conflict between the US and China began to influence the real economy, and its impact has been spreading to the world．The deterioration of business confidence in China is accelerating due to this trade friction． A wide range of industries, especially manufacturing industry,has been suffering from economic damage． And the National Statistics Bureau of China announced that the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), which is an index to judge the business situation, become below 50 first in 2 years and 10 month． Also, on the 2nd, Apple Inc． made the downward revision on business result, from the slowdown of the Chinese economy which was beyond expectation, lead to a weaker stock market． And then, to avoid operational risk funds did flow into highly secure US Treasury bonds． On the next day, it flowed into the Japanese yen; the yen has soared to 104 levels against 1 dollar．
Although the yen appreciation is a result of global stock deterioration being reflected in the yen market at once, if the bad influence on the economic slump in the trade friction between the US and China is promoted, the interest rate rise of the FRB can’t be expected． And if that is the case, it is also expected that the yen’s appreciation and falling stock prices will be advanced further． The world shakes with a little news at the beginning of the year, which means the current state is unstable, the vicious circle of currency war, trade war, geopolitical risk is increasing, and the global economic slowdown seems to be worried about．
Also in Japan, this year will be a new era due to the emperor’s throne in May, and will reach a major milestone in October to increase consumption tax．It is expected that the new era, which will be amended in May, would bring mood to improve, but expected that economic growth will stagnate due to the increase in taxes in October and spur reduction of population through a decline in income. According to GDP statistics, family consumption is currently estimated at about 300 trillion yen． As 2％ of this amount corresponds to the additional consumption tax increase, the disposable income of 6 trillion yen as much as the family budget will be taxed every year and declining income is inevitable．
In addition, when the consumption tax was increased to 5％ in April 1994, it brought the economic downturn in Japan and the Asian currency crisis． Some people says that it is regarded as unsettling that the same thing might happen after the tax increase this time． And, we have to think about taking the measures at an early stage．
Our industry now is strongly depends on China, but it is becoming a tough situation due to Chinese law amendment and regulation strengthening． In addition to sluggish domestic sales, regulations on taking out cash, remittance, and bringing in products are getting stricter.
This impact seems to be big at this jewelry show, and the number of buyers from China has drastically declined． Although there were many more visitors in the previous year, the number of visitors was small because the Chinese New Year’s holiday season was so close this year．However, when we asked the Chinese buyers who visited this time, they told us that the strengthened regulations in China were the main reason to see fewer buyers at this show． Many exhibitors said that product for the overseas market was not in much demand at the venue. IJT, which is said to be the evaluation criteria for this year in our industry, was in such situation, and it is predicted that the business in abroad, mainly in China, would become tough this year．
However, it seemed like there was also a good aspect in this jewelry show to feel the Japanese visitors were increasing． At our booth, there were a lot of visitors with high willingness came to purchase from the first day． Even though I had an impression that the number of visitors was small on the third day, but the final day showed bustle with the number of visitors that were not be seen in the previous year．Although we were working on strengthening merchandises that are likely to be favorable for Japanese buyers, it seemed like the rate that visitors purchased was high at this show．
We had a delightful business talk with Japanese buyers this time, and many people told us that they would visit our booth again．Recently, the atmosphere of the industry was not very good, but we were able to finish this jewelry show happily and successfully.
It is expected that our industry will change further this year． Like our jewelry was given to actress Takako Tokiwa in the jewelry best dressed award at this fair, we are working on strengthening the products which are favorable for everyone to overcome the tough situation together with you． We would like to give our sincere gratitude to every one of you who visited us at this show, and are looking forward to having your continued support throughout this year．
