Gems and jewellery fair ‘to generate B3bn’

The Bangkok Gems and Jewellery Fair, which ends on Sunday, is expected to meet its target of generating 3 billion baht in sales.

Minister of Commerce Jurin Laksanawisit told the opening ceremony last week that the event has been hosted 67 times in almost four decades, including during the coronavirus pandemic.

He said the event was organised virtually and hailed it as the world’s first virtual jewellery fair. The event was held online during the last two years, making more than 500 million baht in trades each year, he said.

This year’s event is organised for five days at the Impact Challenger, Muang Thong Thani in Nonthaburi.

It is attended by 1,020 exhibitors including 168 foreign ones from South Asia, the United States, Europe and the Middle East. The event is expected to draw over 15,000 local and international buyers.

“We expect sales during the fair to reach 3 billion baht, which will help drive the export of gems and jewellery up by 20%, meeting the target set by the [ministry],” Mr Jurin said.

He said the ministry was also creating partnerships in the gems and jewellery industry. It had signed an MoU with Japan’s Kofu, the capital of Yamanashi Prefecture, the country’s gem and jewellery hub, on July 12 last year to promote cooperation and business development, he said.

Gems and jewellery ranked ninth among Thailand’s top revenue-generating industries last year, with a value of nearly 200 billion baht, he said. About 90% of the businesses are SMEs, and the industry has created over 664,000 jobs, he said.

He said Thailand’s gems and jewellery industry was outstanding in manufacturing mastery, artisanship and craftsmanship in screening, polishing, forging and design.

The government wanted to support international fairs to push Thailand as one of the world’s main jewellery hubs, he said.

He said exports of Thai gems and jewellery expanded by 29.8% last year, generating 195 billion baht in income.

For this year, the Ministry of Commerce has set an export target of 234 billion baht, up 20% from the previous year.

During the first seven months of this year, the value of exports already had reached 150 billion baht, which is 64% of the target, Mr Jurin said.