Hallmarking: Let’s be sure to look at the full picture

It is of course disappointing to see that the hallmarking figures have fallen into year-on-year decline for October.

After what has been a very leavening 12 months of near uninterrupted growth in monthly volumes passing through the four hallmarking offices, seeing a dip is a frightening reminder of how fragile the modest recovery in this sector really is.

But we must look at the broader picture lest the industry’s growing optimism suffer unduly. In the year-to-date, hallmarking actually remains only marginally down on the previous year. Between January and October 2015, around 40,000 fewer items have been hallmarked than the same 10-month period in 2014.

No drop is welcome, granted. But the full-year picture is likely to be either flat or comfortable increased after the Christmas rush is taken into account and the November and December figures are published.

As always, we at Jewellery Focus will report the facts as they are without encouraging false optimism, but in this particular instance we must not look at an isolated statistic and worry that it marks a new plunge into yet tougher trading conditions.