Istanbul Jewelry Show Draws Thousands in Its 45th Year

(Press Release) Organized by UBM Rotaforte Uluslararası Fuarcılık A.Ş., the Turkey office of UBM Asia, which is
the biggest exhibition organizer in the Asian continent, and recognized as the fifth biggest international jewelry exhibition in the world, Istanbul Jewelry Show brought together the professionals of the jewelry industry for the 45th time. It started on Thursday, October 12, 2017, at CNR Expo, Istanbul Fair Center, and ended on the evening of Sunday, October 15, 2017. As part of the International Buyer Delegation Program, around 1,000 professionals from the target countries of the jewelry industry were hosted at the exhibition as well.

Istanbul Jewelry Show, which is the world’s fifth biggest and Turkey’s first and only specialized international jewelry exhibition, opened its doors for the 45th time with the organization by UBM Rotaforte Uluslararası Fuarcılık A.Ş., which has 32 years of experience in this sector.

The exhibition featured over 800 local and international jewelry companies and brands representing a wide range of product groups and sectors including gold, jewelry, diamonds, colored stones, precious and semi-precious stones, pearls, silver, silver accessories and silver household items, gold mounters, refinery, watches, molds, shop window decorations, machinery and equipment side industry, safes, software, and logistics and lighting product groups. The exhibitors showcased their special products and collections to over 19,000 professionals of the sector from over 85 countries.

Turkey is among the top five countries in terms of gold jewelry production in the world and is seen by world jewelry authorities as the most powerful rival of Italy. Total gold jewelry exports, which were only at $2.8 million USD in 1992, reached $3.67 billion USD in 2016.

Again according to figures from 2016, Turkey ranks second after Italy in Europe in gold jewelry production including scrap usage, and ranks fourth in the world after China, India and Italy.

Turkey, which ranks number one in Europe and third in the world in scrap gold jewelry production, has moved up to the position of eleventh biggest jewelry exporter of the world.

The exhibition featured an “International Buyer Delegation Program” coordinated with support from the Ministry of Economy of Turkish Republic and organized by General Secretary of IMMIB-Istanbul Minerals and Metals Exporters Association, Jewelry Exporters’ Association (JTR) and UBM Rotaforte with the goal of supporting exports, finding new markets and preserving the market share. As part of the program around 1,000 professionals of the sector from Europe,
Middle East, America, North Africa and Far East were hosted at the exhibition. The business
meetings held during the course of the exhibition were expected to generate around 80 percent of Turkey’s jewelry exports in the coming term.

The latest designs of 2018 debuted at the Istanbul Jewelry Show.

Turkish Jewelry Industry, which recently managed to get rid of its label as the jewelry contract manufacturer in the world, and increased its reputation with unique jewelry designs, launched trendy designs from the 2018 Winter and Spring jewelry collections for the taste of global jewelry buyers via special shows and promotional activities.

UBM Rotaforte Founder/Managing Director Şermin Cengiz said: “Turkey is among the top five countries in the world in gold jewelry production and is seen by world jewelry authorities as a major rival of Italy. Total gold jewelry and jewelry product exports of Turkey which was $2.8 million USD in 1992, reached $3.68 billion USD in 2016. During this period when Turkish jewelry industry replaced its image as a contract manufacturer with that of a leading original design jewelry producer, not only Turkish brands turned into sought-after brands that are high in demand but also jewelry products with ‘Made in Turkey’ label became the most preferred products especially in the jewelry markets in the Middle East, Europe, Arabian Peninsula, Russia and CIS countries. Parallel to this growth of the sector, Istanbul Jewelry Show managed to make greater contribution to the sector every year.”

Ayhan Güner, Chairman of the Board Jewelry Exporters’ Association of Turkey (JTR), stated that they work non-stop to further improve and upgrade the sector and that in this regard, there’s been an extraordinary effort to boost exports. Güner who stated that JTR professionals reach almost every corner of the world, said: “We have a 5,000-year-old jewelry tradition and we carry that to the future. And we strive to continuously improve the added value created by us as the jewelry sector and to support the national economy by doing that. To this end, with support from our government as well, we try to host the biggest buyer delegations in the world. Today, Turkey has the most advanced mounter industry in the world. Our mission is to become a leader especially in the area of diamond products and also in precious and semi-precious stone jewelry.

Today, all sectors that work hard with great self-sacrifice to help improve national economy and boost exports have played a great role in this achievement. And we are proud to crown this achievement of our country by doing our best. In this regard, we can say that the jewelry industry is the diamond of Turkish economy.”

Supported by The Ministry of Economy of Turkish Republic, IMMIB-Istanbul Minerals and Metals Exporters Association,

Jewelry Exporters’ Association of Turkey (JTR) and KOSGEB, and possessing quality certificate from UFI – The Global Association of the Exhibition Industry and Quality Management System ISO – 9001 certification, Istanbul Jewelry Show brings together over 47,000 professionals of the sector and over 845 exhibitors from Turkey and the world in a 90,000 m 2 venue every year in March and October.

The Istanbul Jewelry Show took place Oct. 12-15.