Unlike the common types of pearls in the market such as South Sea pearls which come from Australia, the Philippines and Indonesia, Tahitian pearls are mostly exported from French Polynesia. Unlike the black pearls which are irradiated or dyed, Tahitian pearls come by its dark colour naturally with a full colour spectrum. All these specialties determine the overwhelming demand and rising interest in Tahitian pearls in the jewellery market.
Since 2006, Hong Kong has been playing an increasingly significant role in the Tahitian pearl trade, accounting for 55 percent of all Tahitian pearl exports. Also, more than eight major Tahitian pearl auctions are held in Hong Kong annually. “Tahitian pearl is popular for its shape, size, colour and design. More and more consumers choose to buy and wear Tahitian pearl set jewellery, and more and more designers prefer Tahitian pearls as the jewellery-making material. Entered to Hong Kong over three decades, Tahitian pearls are having a better market acceptance than before,” Johnny Cheng, president of the Tahitian Pearl Association Hong Kong (TPAHK) and managing director of Rio Pearl, told Hong Kong Jewellery. He cited, Rio Pearl has been offering Tahitian pearls since early 1990’s, and they have become their key product with brisk sales worldwide. According to TPAHK, the export value of Tahitian pearls in 2014 reached 72 million euros or approximately HK$591 million.
At the just-finished auction in Tahiti, the 12th Cooperate Tahiti Auction (Rikitea Auction) held on 29-31 March 2015, 452,193 pieces of Tahitian pearls were under auction, and 415,001 pieces or 92 percent of them were sold for a total of 3,248,672 euros or approximately HK$26 million. The result was six-percent higher than expectation. The sale drew 54 buyers from Japan, Hong Kong, French Polynesia, the United States, Canada, Hawaii and New Zealand. Buyers from Asia accounted for 73 percent of the total sales and 81 percent of the total number of pearls sold. The 4th Tahiti Auction co-organised by GIE Poe O Tahiti Nui and GIE Tahiti Pearl Auction was held concurrently and recorded 1,438,545 euros or approximately HK$12 million sales, among which 702,276 euros were contributed by buyers from Japan, and 522,507 euros from Hong Kong. The average price per piece went up by 10 percent at this auction.
Seeing the huge pearl market in mainland China and the advantage of Hong Kong as a pearl trading hub, Hong Kong jewellers are expanding Tahitian pearl business to the mainland. As Cheng noted, for the China consumers, the natural dark and rainbow colour of Tahitian pearls is attractive, and the price is more reasonable comparing to that of South Sea pearls. Tahitian pearls have been favoured by the China buyers widely.
“The pearl market is promising in Asia. So many consumers from China come to buy Tahitian pearls. The recent trend is that, among the buyers, there are professionals, designers who know our products and prices well,” said Jean Luc Borderloux, owner of Poe Here specialised in farming and selling Tahitian pearls from French Polynesia. While a large proportion of buyers from China are lacking in the knowledge of Tahitian pearls. “They only want the round pearls in big sizes and bargain over the prices no matter what the quality is. Hence, the margin for selling pearls to buyers from China is too thin,” he added.
In this respect, with the media exposure of different Tahitian pearl jewellery designs, TPAHK has been trying to reinforce the awareness and appreciation of Tahitian pearls in the market through exhibitions, advertisement sponsorship campaigns, discussions and seminars, educating consumers and telling them that the unique beauty of Tahitian pearls also comes from other shapes such as circled, drop, baroque, semi-baroque, etc. For instance, they organised a seminar in Hong Kong last year, for the industry and public, on the cultivation, classification and trends of Tahitian pearls. Moreover, the association plans to sponsor members and designers who participate in jewellery design competitions with Tahitian pearls in their designs, and cooperates with the pearl industry associations in the mainland such as the Shenzhen Pearl Industry Association.
“China’s pearl market has a solid foundation that many Chinese women would like to buy pearls to wear, while not many pearls are suitable for daily wear and younger generation customers. Tahitian pearls emerge in response to this need. The great variety in shapes and colours, the change of lustre, together with fashionable and unique designs, Tahitian pearl jewellery expresses wearers’ own characters very well,” said Ida Wong, general manager of TPAHK.
“As a result of the shortage of baby oysters for pearl cultivation, which led to a decline in Tahitian pearl production, and the soaring demand worldwide especially in Asia, the price of Tahitian pearls experienced a sharp rise between 20 to 100 percent last year,” Cheng expressed. In fact, the price of high quality Tahitian pearls has increased by several folds over the past few years. Comparing to 2010, the whole export weight of Tahitian pearls dropped by 10 percent in 2014 whereas the export value grew up over 17 percent.
The production issue in Tahitian pearl cultivation seems to be a common challenge for pearlers. Juliette Tikare, manager of Orau Pearls from French Polynesia said: “Our production in 2014 was very low owing to the less and less pearl oysters in the ocean. Under the influence of the marine environment pollution and the climate change, the water gets warmer which results in a lower rate of re-production.”
Speaking of the Tahitian pearl cultivation and production, besides the natural factors, such as the general environment conditions, and the natural characteristics of pearls, it also requires a higher level of cultivation standard and techniques to get high-value pearls with a rainbow series of shimmering colour. “Colour is an important criterion for the value of Tahitian pearls. However, a Tahitian pearl will not present a superb colour when the oyster has been cultivated for so many times at the same place. That is why the industry needs to find ways to cultivate Tahitian pearls sustainably,” Cheng concluded. (Photo courtesy: TPAHK)
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