For a number of years there has been the feeling that event organizers have been increasingly sidelining the diamonds and precious stones exhibitors in favor of the jewelry and watch companies, and all at increasing cost.  

 

This year, however, the feeling of Baselworld being something of a surplus show for diamantaires was exacerbated by the appearance of two new events on the already busy show calendar – the Diamond Show, which closed yesterday, and the UBM Jewelry and Gem Fair Europe Europe (GJF) fair, which opens today in Freiburg, Germany.

 

A number of people said that this triumvirate of shows had left them wondering if so many events so close together had diluted the number of visitors to Basel, with some even questioning how the buyers themselves knew which show – or shows – to attend.

 

As in previous years, many diamantaires were bemoaning the cost of the show, which they say is increasing almost to the point of being unacceptable. Ilana Gakh, sales manager of Andre Messikah said the cost of exhibiting in Basel was making the company think very seriously about whether it would return next year or if it might make the move over the border once the value of GJE is better known.

 

That feeling was compounded not only by the fact that the show was quieter than it had been in the past couple of years, but also because of the company’s slightly out of the way booth. “It’s a long show, and we expected more sales,” said Gakh, who said she was still hopeful that things might pick up in the last couple of days.

 

Raj Mehta, senior vice president and polished distribution director at Rosy Blue, agreed that there had been fewer people walking the halls and said that there was also an issue of buyers not being able to find the goods they were looking for. “People are looking for very precise things,” he said. “Top stones, not necessarily D or E stones, but nicely made goods, which don’t seem to be available.”

 

Expanding on this point he explained that either the goods people are after have already been sold, or they are available, but at a higher price than buyers are willing to pay. “It takes people time to adjust to higher prices. They want top stones, so it costs more.”

 

In terms of what had been selling, Mehta said that fancy shapes had been popular, as were round VS/SI goods. “In general, there has been demand for bigger goods,” he concluded.

 

At Pluczenick, Communications Manager Peter Martin said that while business had been brisk on Sunday, overall it had been noticeably quieter than in previous years.

 

Derek Palmer, the company’s global marketing director, said that for Pluczenick the show was very good for dealing with established clients, but not especially productive in terms of doing new business. “It is all about relationships,” he said.

 

Going through the list of the shows that the company attends, he said that Basel was among the least important, lying far behind more diamond-specific events such as the three major Hong Kong shows, JCK Las Vegas, Antwerp, Miami and private fairs such as the Forevermark buyers shows. “This is more of a watch-oriented show. Buyers come, place their orders for watches and then go.”

 

But while demand at the show had been poorer than the company had hoped for, Palmer took a more long-term view of the market as a whole. “I am optimistic that by the end of the year sales will be 5-6 percent higher,” he said. “Demand will be driven by a small recovery in the US market, by China doing a little better, by India recovering a little, as will most of Asia. No market is ploughing ahead, but the market in general will be up by a fairly modest amount. It’s not going to be a growth that will stun people, but it underlines the growing stability of the market.”

 

Among those companies enjoying a good show was Rachminov Diamonds, which specializes in fancy colors. Company president Eden Rachminov said: “Customers are coming, there have been pretty good sales and the market is strong.”

 

Rather than commenting on specific demand, Rachminov said that the most popular items had been goods priced at $500,000 to $800,000. In general, he said, pinks are still performing very well owing to especially strong demand from Chinese consumers.

 

Despite being happy with business at the show, Rachminov also agreed that the fair is running the risk of pricing its exhibitors out. “It’s a very worthwhile show, but the price goes up every year. We are going to reach a point where we are going to have to think twice about attending. The fairs themselves have to adjust. It’s good, but just too expensive.”