Thailand s Jewelry Industry Overview 2016

Thailand s Jewelry Industry Overview 2016 Jewelry is one of Thailand s major export products in gem and jewelry category and holds the second place after unwrought or semi-manufactured gold in terms of export value. In 2016, Thailand exported 3,565.96 million US dollars of jewelry to the global market, which accounted for 25.03% of the overall value in this category, while gold export was at around 7,279.06 million US dollars. As for jewelry import, a 3. 5 7 % decline was shown in 2016 since platinum jewelry import dramatically decreased by 52.54% compared to the previous year. 1. Export In 2016, Thailand s jewelry export was at 3,565.96 million US dollars, dropping 3.56% from the previous year due to decreasing demand from large markets with a combined share of 66.54%, including the United States, Hong Kong, Germany, the United Kingdom and Japan. On the other hand, the United Arab Emirates increased its import of Thai jewelry by 17.55% to 222.65 million US dollars since oil price, one of the economic growth indicators for the Middle East, has soared recently after plummeting to below 100 US dollars per barrel since 2014. Table 1: Thailand s Jewelry Export Value 2014-2016 Category 1. Gold Jewelry 1,899.16 1,848.61 1,769.57 49.31 50.00 49.63-2.66-4.28 2. Silver Jewelry 1,693.64 1,585.62 1,560.05 43.96 42.88 43.75-6.38-1.61 3. Platinum Jewelry 109.93 116.34 100.73 2.85 3.15 2.82 5.83-13.42 4. Others 149.62 146.85 135.61 3.88 3.97 3.80-1.85-7.65 Total 3,852.35 3,697.42 3,565.96 100.00 100.00 100.00-4.02-3.56 Gold Jewelry is Thailand s most important export product. It contributed to 4 9. 6 2 % of Thailand s total jewelry export value in 2016. Hong Kong, the United States and the United Arab Emirates were major markets with a combined share of 63.56%, or 1,124.82 million US dollars in terms of value. However, the export to Hong Kong and the United States had declining growth at 1.36% and 0.73% respectively, while the export to the United Arab Emirates had strong growth at 20.36%. The overall export growth in this category declined by 4.28% due to a rise in gold price at approximately 8% in 2016 (World Gold Council), as well as slow recovery of the global economy. 1 P a g e

Table 2: Thailand s Gold Jewelry Export Markets 2014-2016 1. Hong Kong 499.23 540.42 533.05 26.29 29.23 30.12 8.25-1.36 2. USA 382.00 389.24 386.40 20.11 21.06 21.83 1.90-0.73 3. UAE 169.03 170.63 205.37 8.90 9.23 11.61 0.95 20.36 4. Switzerland 120.65 86.01 95.60 6.35 4.65 5.40-28.71 11.15 5. UK 124.65 107.36 84.51 6.56 5.81 4.78-13.87-21.28 6. Italy 74.66 61.13 55.99 3.93 3.31 3.16-18.12-8.41 7. Japan 58.56 74.74 46.67 3.08 4.04 2.64 27.63-37.56 8. Germany 42.93 46.99 37.94 2.26 2.54 2.14 9.46-19.26 9. France 37.59 36.53 33.44 1.99 1.98 1.89-2.82-8.46 10. Bahrain 35.60 33.25 32.83 1.88 1.80 1.86-6.60-1.26 Others 354.26 302.31 257.77 18.65 16.35 14.57-14.66-14.73 Total 1,899.16 1,848.61 1,769.57 100.00 100.00 100.00-2.66-4.28 Silver Jewelry accounted for 43.75% of the overall jewelry export in terms of value. The most important market was the United States with a 3 3. 0 3 % share. The export value from the United States decreased from the previous year by 10.12% since the economic slowdown caused a 6.96% drop in its silver jewelry consumption. As an emerging market, China increased its import of Thai silver jewelry by 7 9. 8 2 %. This is in line with its consumption of silver jewelry from the global market, which greatly increased by 50.92% compared to the previous year, with the import value of 121.84 million US dollars (Global Trade Atlas). Table 3: Thailand s Silver Jewelry Export Markets 2014-2016 1. USA 641.26 573.39 515.38 37.86 36.16 33.03-10.58-10.12 2. Germany 422.62 435.69 426.08 24.95 27.48 27.31 3.09-2.21 3. Australia 95.47 95.81 104.93 5.65 6.04 6.73 0.36 9.52 4. Hong Kong 63.37 72.22 77.37 3.74 4.55 4.96 13.97 7.13 5. China 14.13 37.01 66.55 0.83 2.33 4.27 161.92 79.82 6. UK 56.87 51.60 52.15 3.36 3.25 3.34-9.27 1.07 7. Russia 99.55 33.54 38.82 5.88 2.12 2.49-66.31 15.74 8. Japan 29.52 24.61 26.81 1.74 1.55 1.72-16.63 8.94 9. South Korea 16.57 16.98 22.72 0.98 1.07 1.45 2.47 33.80 10. Denmark 21.52 22.61 21.95 1.27 1.44 1.41 5.07-2.92 Others 232.76 222.16 207.29 13.74 14.01 13.29-4.55-6.69 Total 1,693.64 1,585.62 1,560.05 100.00 100.00 100.00-6.38-1.61 2 P a g e

2. Import In 2016, Thailand imported 522.94 million US dollars of jewelry, with a declining growth rate compared to the previous year at 3.57%. Gold jewelry was imported at the highest value of 358.60 million US dollars, or 68.57%, followed by silver jewelry at the import value of 101.59 million US dollars, growing by 60.09% from the previous year. Table 4: Thailand s Jewelry Import Value 2014-2016 Category 1. Gold Jewelry 394.13 388.75 358.60 69.24 71.69 68.57-1.37-7.76 2. Silver Jewelry 82.21 63.46 101.59 14.44 11.70 19.43-22.81 60.09 3. Platinum Jewelry 46.09 52.76 25.04 8.10 9.73 4.79 14.47-52.54 4. Others 46.77 37.31 37.71 8.22 6.88 7.21-20.23 1.07 Total 569.20 542.28 522.94 100.00 100.00 100.00-4.73-3.57 Thailand s major sources for jewelry import were still Hong Kong and Italy, despite declining growth in both countries. The highest import value was from Thai jewelry, which was delivered back after being displayed in international trade fairs. Interestingly, Thailand s import of Chinese jewelry grew over three times from 6.40 million US dollars in 2015 to 24.80 million US dollars in the following year. Meanwhile, Thailand s overall jewelry import from the global market decreased by 3.57%. Table 5: Thailand s Jewelry Import Markets 2014-2016 1. Thailand 315.25 242.80 261.42 55.38 44.77 49.99-22.98 7.67 2. Hong Kong 40.16 57.31 45.21 7.05 10.57 8.65 42.70-21.11 3. Italy 34.26 37.49 35.93 6.02 6.91 6.87 9.43-4.16 4. China 4.80 6.40 24.80 0.84 1.18 4.74 33.33 287.50 5. Japan 27.05 45.24 24.78 4.75 8.34 4.74 67.25-45.23 6. USA 39.76 30.32 24.27 6.99 5.59 4.64-23.74-19.95 7. Singapore 24.17 26.75 23.01 4.25 4.93 4.4 10.67-13.98 8. India 9.10 18.08 22.77 1.6 3.33 4.35 98.68 25.94 9. Turkey 7.77 8.22 13.05 1.37 1.52 2.5 5.79 58.76 10. Switzerland 5.82 6.34 10.24 1.02 1.17 1.96 8.93 61.51 Others 61.06 63.33 37.46 10.73 11.69 7.16 3.72-40.85 Total 569.20 542.28 522.94 100.00 100.00 100.00-4.73-3.57 3 P a g e

3. Competitiveness of Thai Jewelry Industry In 2016, the total value of global jewelry import was 52,860.52 million US dollars, up 0.83% from the previous year. The world s five major import markets were Hong Kong, the United States, Switzerland, France and Singapore, with a large combined share at 69.07% of the world s overall import value, with the United States having the highest growth rate at 12.99%. In general, the world s overall jewelry import in 2016 started growing after three consecutive years of negative growth rate. As for silver jewelry, Thailand had once been the top exporter in this category but was later surpassed by India from 2014 onwards with a continuously growing gap. In 2016, India earned 3,350.37 million US dollars from silver jewelry export while Thailand held the second place with 1,560.05 million US dollars of export value. In Southeast Asia, Thailand also has Indonesia as another significant competitor. However, considering the world s overall jewelry export in 2016, Thailand was the world s 11th most important exporter in terms of value, with the United States, Hong Kong and Germany as its main markets. The details of jewelry import in each country are as follow: The United States The United States is the world s second largest jewelry importer after Hong Kong. In 2016, it imported jewelry at the total value of 8,972.23 million US dollars from the global market, accounting for 16.97% and growing by 1 2. 9 9 % from the previous year. The import from India gained the highest share at 20.44%, followed by Thailand at 14.19%. For gold jewelry, the United States is one of the largest importers after Hong Kong and Switzerland. In 2016, the United States imported 6,934.21 million US dollars of gold jewelry. Thailand was the sixth most important source of gold jewelry for the US import, with the import value of 410.32 million US dollars, up 30.72% from the previous year. This was in line with its overall jewelry import from the global market, which grew by 20.73% from the previous year. 4 P a g e

Table 6: The US s Gold Jewelry Import Markets 2014-2016 1. India 1,195.61 1,310.43 1,507.81 21.70 22.82 21.75 9.60 15.06 2. China 810.39 804.14 854.99 14.70 14.00 12.33-0.77 6.32 3. France 741.83 649.99 805.27 13.46 11.32 11.61-12.38 23.89 4. Italy 492.07 486.47 656.90 8.93 8.47 9.47-1.14 35.03 5. Hong Kong 242.30 232.61 529.45 4.40 4.05 7.64-4.00 127.62 6. Thailand 293.60 313.90 410.32 5.33 5.46 5.92 6.92 30.72 Others 1,734.90 1,945.89 2,169.47 31.48 33.88 31.28 12.16 11.49 Total 5,510.70 5,743.43 6,934.21 100.00 100.00 100.00 4.22 20.73 As for the United States import of silver jewelry, Thailand still gained the highest market share at 42.72% in 2016, but the growth was in decline compared to the previous year, at the rate of 10.23%. Thailand s competitors, including China, India and Indonesia, also faced the decline, in line with the United States decreasing import from the global market. However, it should be noted that the import from Taiwan increased over seven times from 3.89 million US dollars in 2015 to 33.50 million US dollars in the following year. Table 7 The US s Silver Jewelry Import Markets 2014-2016 1. Thailand 879.72 959.70 861.48 41.39 44.27 42.72 9.09-10.23 2. China 405.96 422.30 374.95 19.10 19.48 18.59 4.02-11.21 3. India 351.48 344.69 320.75 16.54 15.90 15.90-1.93-6.94 4. Italy 167.42 147.55 150.10 7.87 6.81 7.44-11.87 1.73 5. Indonesia 46.75 41.10 36.68 2.20 1.90 1.82-12.07-10.77 Others 274.30 252.36 272.77 12.90 11.64 13.53-8.00 8.09 Total 2,125.63 2,167.70 2,016.74 100.00 100.00 100.00 1.98-6.96 Hong Kong The United States had once been the world s largest jewelry importer, but it was surpassed by Hong Kong from the year 2011 onwards. In 2016, Hong Kong imported jewelry at the total value of 11,365.11 million US dollars, or 21.5% of the world s overall import, while the United States jewelry import was at 8,972.23 million US dollars, accounting for 16.97%. Regarding Hong Kong s import by product category, it is found that 80.39% was gold jewelry, 29.75% of which at was imported from China. Thailand was the 13th most important source with the import value of 74.88 million US dollars, moving down from the previous year by 23.49%. 5 P a g e

Table 8: Hong Kong s Gold Jewelry Import Markets 2014-2016 1. China 4,900.52 2,879.74 2,718.05 38.21 31.22 29.75-41.24-5.61 2. India 1,952.35 1,001.45 1,144.35 15.22 10.87 12.53-48.71 14.27 3. USA 1,065.54 1,047.06 1,000.85 8.31 11.35 10.95-1.73-4.41 4. France 1,140.56 907.80 958.63 8.89 9.84 10.49-20.41 5.60 5. Italy 875.44 853.21 853.23 6.83 9.25 9.34-2.54 0.00 13. Thailand 94.19 97.87 74.88 0.73 1.06 0.82 3.90-23.49 Others 2,796.39 2,436.02 2,386.46 21.81 26.41 26.12-12.89-2.03 Total 12,825.00 9,223.15 9,136.46 100.00 100.00 100.00-28.08-0.94 Apart from replacing the United States as the world s top jewelry importer in terms of value, Hong Kong also surpassed the United States in importing silver jewelry in 2016, with the import value of 2,213.57 million US dollars, higher than the United States import value at 2,016.74 million US dollars. Hong Kong s main import sources included India, China and the United States. Thailand held the fourth place with the value of 46.51 million US dollars, up from the previous year by 37.91%. Table 9: Hong Kong s Silver Jewelry Import Markets 2014-2016 1. India 725.38 1,132.99 1,696.70 55.09 68.46 76.65 56.19 49.75 2. China 382.55 365.80 312.54 29.05 22.10 14.12-4.38-14.56 3. USA 92.98 42.50 49.65 7.06 2.57 2.24-54.28 16.80 4. Thailand 24.09 33.73 46.51 1.83 2.04 2.10 40.03 37.91 5. Italy 41.96 36.60 43.73 3.19 2.21 1.98-12.78 19.48 Others 49.84 43.35 64.44 3.78 2.62 2.91-13.03 48.67 Total 1,316.78 1,654.97 2,213.57 100.00 100.00 100.00 25.68 33.75 Germany Germany is the world s ninth largest jewelry importer and also serves as the distribution center for other countries in the European Union. In 2016, its jewelry import amounted to 1,444.60 million US dollars, accounting for 2.73% of the global jewelry import and decreasing by 2.37% from the previous year. This consists of gold jewelry import at 54.75% and silver jewelry import at 45.21%. Its top import sources of gold jewelry included Switzerland, France, Thailand and Italy, which had a combined share of 62.66% of Germany s total import of gold jewelry. 6 P a g e

Table 10: Germany s Gold Jewelry Import Markets 2014-2016 1. Switzerland 191.28 234.64 185.66 22.94 29.24 23.47 22.67-20.88 2. France 121.82 132.39 147.19 14.62 16.50 18.61 8.68 11.17 3. Thailand 94.19 82.57 88.34 11.30 10.29 11.17-12.33 6.99 4. Italy 89.93 81.27 74.41 10.79 10.13 9.41-9.64-8.44 5. Turkey 63.57 35.99 50.38 7.63 4.49 6.37-43.39 39.98 Others 272.67 235.47 244.91 32.72 29.35 30.97-13.64 4.01 Total 833.46 802.34 790.88 100.00 100.00 100.00-3.73-1.43 Thailand was still the most important source of silver jewelry for Germany s import, accounting for as much as 76.54%, at the value of 499.86 million US dollars, dropping from the previous year by 1.98%. This was in line with a 3.47% decrease in Germany s import from the global market. Other important sources were Thailand s competitor in silver jewelry market, including China, India and Italy. However, their trading value with Germany was still much lower than Thailand s. Table 10: Germany s Silver Jewelry Import Markets 2014-2016 1. Thailand 479.79 509.94 499.86 71.85 75.37 76.54 6.28-1.98 2. China 77.69 66.21 60.23 11.63 9.79 9.22-14.77-9.03 3. India 26.45 21.51 20.37 3.96 3.18 3.12-18.67-5.31 4. Italy 18.74 15.61 13.72 2.81 2.31 2.10-16.74-12.06 5. USA 11.36 10.68 10.57 1.71 1.58 1.62-5.95-1.06 Others 53.71 52.60 48.35 8.04 7.77 7.40-2.07-8.07 Total 667.73 676.54 653.10 100.00 100.00 100.00 1.32-3.47 4. Opportunities/ Challenges in Thailand s Jewelry Industry Since the subprime crisis occurred in the United States and became the basic root of economic instability, European countries, Japan and emerging markets like China have also faced the economic slowdown. As a result, Thailand s jewelry export to the global market was in decline compared to the previous year. Moreover, Thai jewelry industry is labor-intensive, resulting in reduced competitiveness when Thailand s minimum wage is higher than the neighboring countries. The supplying countries of raw material in this industry also focus on domestic employment and value addition of their own resources by encouraging export of jewelry instead 7 P a g e

of raw materials, as well as offering incentives to manufacturers. These factors can be considered as challenges to Thailand s jewelry manufacturing industry. On the other hand, the tourism sector is providing opportunities for Thailand s jewelry trading. According to the Department of Tourism, in 2016 Thailand had an increasing number of foreign tourists, including Chinese tourists at a 10.34% increase, Europeans at 9.57%, Americans at 13.77 % and tourists from the Middle East at 13.50%. This is an opportunity for local jewelers to run proactive marketing campaigns by concentrating on adding value and uniqueness in their products, as well as highlighting their product quality standard, to maintain competitiveness during the global economic slowdown. Gem and Jewelry Information Center The Gem and Jewelry Institute of Thailand (Public Organization) May 2017 สม ครสมาช กเพ อต ดตามข อม ลได ท infocenter.git.or.th ทางไลน ท git_info_center หร อต ดตามผ านเฟซบ ค facebook.com/gitinfocenter 8 P a g e