Once again, the largest foreign pavilion at Baselworld 2007 (12 – 19 April) came from Hong Kong. The 326 exhibitors under the auspices of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) were all in agreement when the trade fair ended that it had been a success. While direct orders were already 20% up on those of the previous year, those negotiated at the fair increased by more than 50%.

This tallies with the final Baselworld report, which shows that the fair attracted about 102,000 visitors. Hong Kong was represented by 166 jewellery firms and 132 watch manufacturers with about 6,500 m2 of floor space in Hall 6. The goods exhibited were right on trend, as the firms had brought all their latest high quality watch and jewellery collections. The watch parts and components (13 manufacturers) and the creative packaging designs (15 exhibitors) with both a classical and a flashier look went down well. 20 further Hong Kong firms exhibited their own brands in Halls 2, 3 and 5.

”Good design brings good business“ said Winchell Cheung, Director of the HKTDC office in Frankfurt am Main. “Our firms really outdid themselves in quality and design in Basel this year. Customers from western and eastern Europe (Russia above all), the Middle East, the USA, Canada and Israel placed about 20% more direct orders than in the previous year“, says Cheung.

“Baselworld is and remains Hong Kong’s most important trade fair for these two industries”, says Cheung. It’s there that Hong Kong’s jewellery and watch industries usually achieve the bulk of their annual turnover. More and more manufacturers from the Southeast Asian trading metropolis are now exhibiting their own brands in the other halls of the fair. The HKTDC director sees this as a good sign. Hong Kong is making great strides in higher quality market segments.


Source: Hong Kong Trade Development Council

www.tdctrade.com