Gold body plans industry exhibition

The event will boost sales and encourage local and foreign companies to set up factories in the emirate.

ABU DHABI // The Abu Dhabi Gold and Jewellery Group is planning an industry exhibition to boost sales and encourage local and foreign companies to set up factories in the emirate. Abdul al Marzooqi, the group's secretary general, said it aimed to combine the six exhibitions held through the year that rob local retailers of demand, and regulate the quality of jewellery sold by foreign companies. "What we would like to do is to arrange one main jewellery exhibition," said Mr al Marzooqi, also the chief executive of Mandoos Jewellery. "If we could do that there will be more credibility. "We can attract more big companies to participate in these exhibitions and at the same time we can regulate - keep an eye on these exhibitors." The Abu Dhabi Gold and Jewellery Group, which was officially formed last month, represents about 280 jewellers across the emirate. Before its inception, an informal collective of local jewellers represented the industry, but Mr al Marzooqi said that as an organisation under the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce, the group would have a stronger voice. It had its first meeting last week. Sales for the emirate's jewellers have dropped almost 20 per cent in the first quarter of this year, to 4,500kg of gold from 5,500kg in the same period last year. Earnings decreased to Dh450 million (US$122.5m) from Dh470m in the first three months of last year. The group said this was caused by the high price of gold, fewer tourists and the tough economic times. Some jewellers in Dubai are reporting as much as a 40 per cent drop in sales. K P Baiju, the chief executive of the jewellery consultancy Buz, said Dubai's jewellers would normally sell $450m in the first quarter, but they were unlikely to have exceeded $250m in the first three months of this year. Dubai's jewellery industry established the Dubai Gold and Jewellery Group in 1996 and the market has doubled since then, said Chetan Karani, the deputy managing director of the group. Mr Karani said the group could not take all the credit but it had made a big contribution. "It's definitely made a difference in terms of the visibility of the trade, to government departments and consumers generally," he said. "Second of all, it has brought the trade together and enabled us to discuss our problems." Mr al Marzooqi said he hoped the Abu Dhabi group would help boost the emirate's jewellery sector, which he estimated to be worth Dh4 billion. Average daily sales at shops in Abu Dhabi used to be Dh15,000 to Dh25,000, but they have dropped by about 20 per cent. Mr al Marzooqi said having six exhibitions a year had cut sales by 50 per cent, and some foreign companies that took part in them were unlicensed and sold poor-quality jewellery. "We would like to show the [government] officials the negative impact of these random exhibitions on the jewellery sector, jewellers and the local economy," he said. "These people who come here, they don't have a reputation here [to protect]. They come here to hit and run." The group's long-term plan was to encourage local and foreign companies to open factories in the emirate, Mr al Marzooqi said, as 90 per cent of the jewellery bought in Abu Dhabi was imported. Mr Karani said it would be difficult to compete with long-established jewellery production centres such as India, but if the Government subsidised the costs of rent, land and other costs it would help. Mr al Marzooqi said it would be an investment in Abu Dhabi's future. "When you have these kind of factories here you will support the Government by offering your jobs to locals, and in the long term this will decrease unemployment and encourage the locals to depend not just on the governmental sector, but also the private sector," he said. [e-mail]