Today, Thursday 21 January, sees the closure of the doors of Vicenzaoro First 2010, the first international gold and jewellery show in the annual fair calendar, now at its sixty-second edition.

The figures for the flow of visitors to Vicenzaoro First fully confirm its centrality and importance for the sector.
The presences of accredited operators at the end of the sixth day numbered 17,969 compared with 13,154 in 2009.
The countries best represented were: France, Germany, Greece, Spain, Israel, Turkey and the USA.
The presence was recorded of buyers from the most important department stores and luxury retailers at international level, people of the calibre of Scott Martin from Saks Fifth Avenue (USA), Mehul Choksi from the Gitanjali Group (India), Anna Avakian from Mercury (Armenia), Alex Popov from Moscow Diamon Bourse (Russia) and Alon Torjeman from Padani (Israel).

The noticeable increase in the presence of operators can also be interpreted as greater interest in gold and jewellery products and purchases from the end customers too.
For the moment, it is not possible to transform these positive indications into secure order forecasts and it will be necessary to obtain specific precise data from other sources to do so.

A certain liveliness was perceptible during these fair days and allows us to hope that the definitive data will effectively be in growth. "The positive feelings expressed in these last few days," commented the incoming Chairman, Roberto Ditri, "have further reinforced my enthusiasm for my new position and my conviction that with these premises, the approval of the shareholders, and the collaboration of the staff, we will be able to fine-tune great projects and proposals for consolidating Fiera di Vicenza leadership role on the international stage and provide support for the entire gold sector.
These days of full emersion in the gold business," Ditri continued, "have let me gather lots of fundamental ideas from entrepreneurs, operators, economic categories and media for defining future strategies which will be tackled and discussed very soon by the Board of Directors."

The lively climate that could be felt in the exhibition pavilions was reflected by the support for the show and for the jewellery sector by the city, institutions, business people and townspeople. The inaugural day, attended by all the public representatives, ended with the Golden Night, an evening in which Vicenza welcomed the businesses and operators with late opening in the shops, events, shows and performances by artists.

The sector is coming from a very long and deep recession. The demand for gold and jewellery in 2009 recorded a steep fall of about 18% at world level with very marked downturns in the United States (-17%), in the Arab countries and in Europe. The sole sign of solidity came from the Chinese market where there was a 12% increase in the demand for gold and 8% growth in jewellery.
The forecasts indicate a market recovery for 2010, the scale of which will however be linked to the performance of the economy in the various parts of the world.

Vicenzaoro First is the first international exhibition of the new Fiera di Vicenza Spa, a company established on 22 December 2009 with the merger by incorporation of the property company and the management company.

The Board of Directors of the new Fiera di Vicenza, elected unanimously by the majority shareholders (the Commune, Province and Chamber of Commerce) is composed of business people and technicians: Michele Amenduni, Paolo Brunello, Renato Corrà, Ambrogio Dalla Rovere, Antonio Pilastro and Stefano Stenta (Vice-Chairman).
It met for the first time on 15 January and elected Roberto Ditri as Chairman.

Roberto Ditri, managing director of Marelli Motori, part of the British Melrose Plc group, is an international manager with a wide variety of commitments in trade associations at regional and national level.
Ditri has full powers and also fills the role of managing director of Fiera di Vicenza SpA.