Hong Kong jewelry fair draws global buyers, spotlights birthstone designs

Nearly 1,100 exhibitors from around 30 countries and regions filled the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre for Jewellery & Gem ASIA Hong Kong 2026, and buyers from more than 100 countries came looking for innovative designs, affordable options and distinctive selections. For birthstone jewelry, that mix pointed toward a season ahead in which coloured stones move closer to everyday wear and easier price points.

Informa Markets Jewellery split the fair into two co-located sections, JGA: Jewellery in Hall 1 and JGA: Diamonds, Gemstones & Pearls+ in Hall 3, with more than 30 pavilions spanning finished jewellery, plain-metal collections, diamonds, coloured gemstones, pearls, lab-grown diamonds and couture and fine design pieces. Celine Lau, director of Jewellery Fairs at Informa Markets Jewellery, said the sector has been tested by Covid-19, tariff adjustments and geopolitical tensions, and that the fair matters because it gives the trade a place to address those pressures face to face. A beta version of an AI-powered Exhibitor Finder added a more practical layer, helping visitors match with relevant suppliers faster, which is exactly the kind of sourcing tool that can put a better-value birthstone line in front of retailers sooner.

Hong Kong’s export numbers added to the momentum. Shipments of jewellery, goldsmiths’ and silversmiths’ wares reached HK$73.39 billion, about US$9.37 billion, in the first quarter of 2026, up 34 percent from a year earlier. March alone came in at HK$27.78 billion, about US$3.55 billion, up 28.4 percent from March 2025. Later in the year, exports of jewellery and other luxury items were also said to have risen substantially in the first five months of 2026, supported by steady overseas demand and easing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. For retailers, that kind of backdrop usually translates into more choice, sharper sourcing and a better chance of finding coloured-stone pieces that do not sit only in the high-jewellery case.

The fair’s most fashion-forward signal came from the inaugural Gender-Fluid Coloured Gem Jewellery Design Challenge, where finalist displays were staged at Stand 1C302 in Hall 1C. The competition ran in two tracks, Students and Professionals, with brooches, earrings and rings among the categories, and around 120 designs reached the finals. Attendees voted for their favourites, pushing coloured gemstones into silhouettes that felt less conventional and more wearable across different wardrobes.

Compared with 2025, when JGA drew more than 24,000 buyers from 87 countries and 61 percent of visitors came from outside Hong Kong, the 2026 edition broadened its reach again. That wider audience, paired with stronger export data and a sharper focus on affordable, design-led coloured stones, suggests birthstone jewelry will be easier to source, easier to style and more commercially fluent at retail in the buying season ahead.