Jewelry loses sparkle as industry declines

For the first five months this year, China's jewelry industry has experienced its first distinct decline in a decade, with many leading jewelry retailers suffering falling revenues and profits.

The largest Hong Kong-listed jeweler, Chow Tai Fook Jewelry Group, one of the largest listed jewelry chains by market capitalization worldwide, cut 4,600 staff last year. It had a 46 percent plunge in its annual profit year-on-year, according to its earnings report for the financial year ended March 31. This year, Chow Tai Fook plans to close seven to eight jewelry stores in Hong Kong, but it doesn't plan large-scale layoffs for the time being.

The retailer saw the jewelry sales in the Chinese mainland, where it runs 2,057 jewelry stores as of March, decline 21.3 percent compared with a year earlier, as a result of weak consumption, changing consumer buying habits, and fierce competition, particularly the strong shift to e-commerce spending.