MAN ON THE MOVE - High Turnout at Istanbul Show, but East Europeans Stay Away

31 Mar 2022

By David Brough

ISTANBUL, Turkey - The halls thronged with visitors at Istanbul Jewelry Show (March 24-27), signalling buoyant orders mainly for gold and silver jewellery, but many East Europeans stayed away due to the war in Ukraine.

Stands such as Turkish gem-set jeweller Roberto Bravo, were crammed with visitors throughout the event, due to a strong influx of buyers from the Middle East, the Americas and Europe.

Around six UK-based wholesalers and retailers attended, including gold jewellery wholesaler Arun Chopra, back for the first time since the pandemic.

"The Istanbul show offers wide choice and the quality is good," he told NAJ.

His son, Krishan Chopra, representing online retailer Savage & Rose, based on Berkeley Square, London, said he had been impressed by the quality of Turkish manufactured silver jewellery at the show, but felt that the designs tended to be conservative and needed greater creative input.

Dinesh Parekh of Birmingham-based Just Diamonds, an NAJ member, said that in Istanbul he had developed a number of business contacts in the Turkish trade whom he had initially met at the Jewellery Antalya event in Antalya in January. 

Istanbul Jewelry Show, staged twice a year by Informa Markets in March and October, and Jewellery Antalya, organised annually in January by Turkey's Jewellery Exporters' Association (JTR), are conduits for Turkish exports mainly of gold and silver jewellery, as well as gem-set jewellery and state-of-the-art machinery.

Turkish gold jewellery manufacturing has a reputation for being competitively priced and highly adaptable to meet orders for differing levels of gold content, spanning 9 to 22 carats, in short delivery times, UK buyers said.

The competitiveness of Turkish jewellery producers has fuelled the ambition of the Jewellery Exporters’ Association (JTR) for Turkey to deliver 15 percent of world jewellery exports by value over the next couple of years, up from 6-7 percent now.

Fall in East European attendance

Overall attendance was buoyant at Istanbul Jewelry Show despite a plunge in Russian visitors and the absence of Ukrainians due to the war, organisers said.

Visitors from other East European countries were also sharply down due to uncertainty caused by the conflict.

Before the war, Russian and Ukrainian visitors together accounted for around 10 percent of visitors to Istanbul Jewelry Show, JTR Board Member Ceyhan Hosgor told NAJ.

In recent weeks, JTR had stepped up a marketing campaign to potential buyers in the Americas, contributing to a high turnout by visitors from the United States and Latin America at the Istanbul event.

Standards

Turkish industry needs to be more proactive in the next few years to embrace more sustainable and consistently responsible business practices in jewellery manufacturing, Mr Hosgor said.

Markets such as the United Kingdom and the United States have a good understanding and appreciation for responsible business practices.

A handful of Turkish gold jewellery manufacturers, such as Arpas, Goldenline Jewellery and Gusto Gold, are members of the London-based Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC).

Source: David Brough (Jewellery Outlook)