China's cheap pearls affect the global market

"The New York Times" published an article saying that cheap pearls from China are having a huge impact on the global jewellery market because a new breed of farming technology allows Chinese manufacturers to mass-produce and produce high-grade pearls in fresh water, as opposed to traditional aquaculture. This technology yields more and costs less.

The article said that pearls produced in China in the past were only an insignificant role in the international jewellery market because China produced a small number of pearls of low quality and only some cheap jewellery used Chinese pearls.

However, the new technology invented by some pearl farms in Zhejiang is completely changing this pattern. The article stated that Zhang Weijian, who is now in his forties year of age, runs a pearl farming company in Zhuji. In contrast to traditional aquaculture practices, they cultivate pearls in artificially excavated ponds and even in paddy fields. Although far away from the French Polynesia archipelago, where the world’s premier pearls are produced, the pearls produced here are of comparable quality to the pearls of Tahiti.

The New York Times article said that the pearls produced by Zhang Weijian’s company are full of round colors, but the price is less than one-tenth that of Tahiti pearls of the same level. Due to the impact of the massive listing of cheap pearls in China, the wholesale price of half-inch diameter white pearls on the international market has fallen by more than 30% in the past few years.

Robert Wan, head of Robert Wan Tahiti, one of the world's major standards makers for pearl quality, said: "There is no doubt that the strong competition from China has hurt the market." He said: "In the past, China The main production is small pearls that are less than half an inch in diameter. Now they are starting to supply large pearls over an inch in diameter to the international market." He added: "China's offer is very flexible. Once these pearls are available in large numbers, we can anticipate the market. What will change."