Larger Trade Shows Set to Resume Overseas This Spring, Summer

New York—A handful of major jewelry trade shows are set to resume overseas this spring and summer, starting with a major show in India next month.

On Wednesday, India’s Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) announced that it is planning for IIJS Signature to happen in person from April 7-12 at the Bombay Exhibition Centre.

The show will have three halls, and a limited number of exhibitors and buyers. In addition, proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken at least 72 hours prior will be required for entry to the show.

All registration is being doing online. Other safety measures include: digital contactless badges (no physical badges), temperatures being taken and hand sanitizer provided upon entry, a facility for rapid COVID-19 tests on-site, and the presence of a special COVID-19 response team at the show.

GJEPC said it is the first large-scale jewelry trade show organized since the onset of COVID-19.

“With the vaccination drive already in full swing in India, we expect that by end of March, a large number of people would be vaccinated for COVID,” said GJEPC Chairman Colin Shah.

"We are anticipating a surge in demand for gems and jewelry in the next few months with weddings and Akshay Tritiya [a springtime festival celebrated by Hindus and Jains] lined up. IIJS Signature will be an opportunity for our visitors and buyers to restock their inventory for the upcoming demand for the season.”

In Italy, the Italian Exhibition Group (IEG) has scheduled Oroarezzo at the Expo Centre in Arezzo for June 12 to 15, and Vicenzaoro, T.Gold and VO Vintage for Sept. 10-14 in Vicenza.

Oroarezzo is the IEG show devoted to jewelry that is made in Italy, while T.Gold is for machinery and other technologies used in jewelry design and production, VO Vintage is vintage jewelry and watches, and Vicenzaoro includes the entire supply chain.

In reorganizing its 2021 jewelry trade show calendar, IEG said it was responding to requests from jewelry companies around the world that view trade shows as essential to growing their businesses; it is “determined to get activities and relations going again.”

Later this month, IEG plans to hold an all-digital event called We Are Jewellery. It is scheduled for March 23 and will be a live-stream event focusing on the very best of Italian gold and jewelry production. 

The group said We Are Jewellery is “the starting point of IEG’s tailor-made roadmap towards the return of the industry’s physically-attended trade shows.” 

Also this spring, Informa Markets plans to hold the Istanbul Jewelry Show, which originally was slated for March, from May 27-30 at the CNR Expo center.

The resumption of trade shows overseas comes amid news in the United States that President Joe Biden has invoked the Defense Production Act, ordering Merck and Johnson & Johnson to work together to accelerate production of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine.

The president said Tuesday that the country should have enough vaccine doses for every U.S. adult by the end of May.

While some regional jewelry trade shows continue—JIS Miami from March 22-24 and the Atlanta Jewelry Show from March 6-7 among them—the country’s largest shows have been pushed back to late August.

JCK Las Vegas is currently scheduled for Aug. 24 to 30, while Couture is slated for Aug. 24 to 26.