The Macau International Jewelry & Watch Fair 2009, which was originally scheduled to be held in Feb. 28 – March 3 at the Venetian Convention & Exhibition Center in Macau, will be postponed, trade show organizers said in a statement Wednesday.

“We have achieved tremendous success in the first edition of the Fair in March 2008 with 1,000 booths and more than 500 exhibiting companies which have shown strong confidence in the fair and the company,” MJS Trade Fairs (Macau) Limited, which organizes the fair, said in the statement. “While we thank every single one of them for their unfaltering support and patronage, we also are aware that the current financial turmoil and the slowdown of the global economy have disrupted the normal business activities not only of the jewelry and watch industries but also the entire world with no exceptions. Consequently, we do not feel comfortable nor professional to persist in hosting the Fair as originally planned even though we also reckon that postponing the fair to another date may cause some inconvenience to our patrons who are our long term business partners. To ensure that we arrive at the best practicable decision amidst the current financial chaos, we have been consulting our exhibitors, buyers, and advisors in the past several months and in the end, the message is clear as crystal that it would be imprudent to continue the fair as scheduled just for the sake of doing it or even for fulfilling some contractual obligations; nor is it a responsible thing to do as a trade fair organizer knowing that there will be negative response from the market. The appalling results of the January show in Macau further confirm this.”

MJS Trade Fairs in its statement that it will still hold the Canton Jewelry & Watch Fair at the Guangzhou Mart in Pazhou, Guangzhou, China, Sept. 20-22; and the Macao de Luxe at the Four Seasons Hotel in Macau in Sept. 23 – 25.

JCK