China has been the main producer of cultured pearls worldwide since the 1980s. Apart from its saltwater pearls cultivated in coastal regions, the country has produced more than 1,200 tonnes of freshwater pearls annually since 2001, accounted for over 95 percent of the total production in the world. Chinese cultured pearls have long been associated with high yield, low price and poor quality. While with the development of China’s economy, opening of the market, changes of business operation models and principles, and updates of culturing techniques, Chinese pearls have been recognised gradually in the global market, and the emerging of large pearl companies brings hope and vitality to the industry.
Angeperle
Zhuji, a city of Zhejiang province, located in Eastern China on the Southern side of Yangtze Delta, is the birthplace of China’s freshwater pearl mussel cultivation. With advanced freshwater pearl cultivation techniques, annual production of freshwater pearls in Zhuji accounts for 80 percent of China’s gross outputs and 73 percent of the world’s total volume. The city has also been dubbed ‘the capital of pearls’.
Zhejiang Angeperle Co Ltd is among numerous pearl farming and processing enterprises in Zhuji. Established in 1997, the company occupies 50,000 mu (about 8,236 acres) of pearl farms throughout China’s Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Anhui, Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces, specialising in pearl scientific research, farming, processing and selling along the entire supply chain.
According to Emily Qi, brand manager of the company, although in the pearl market there was prejudice against Chinese freshwater pearls, sales of Angeperle’s high-quality freshwater pearls have been stable in international markets, including Europe, North America, Southeast Asia, etc. She told Hong Kong Jewellery: “We have strict control over and plans for the production and sales of freshwater pearls which are provided exclusively to medium- and high-end clients, in order to ensure the consistent quality of our products.”
Facing the overall decline in the global pearl production, Qi stated that it will encourage practitioners to review thoroughly the ways of industry development and market competition. The ‘high production and low value’ status and homogenised competition will activate industry’s self-regulation when it develops to a certain degree, speeding up industrial upgrading. “The decrease of pearl productivity has rectified the supply-demand relationship and hence restored the preciousness of rare pearls. Angeperle not only optimises culturing techniques and improves farming quality, but also increases investments in branding, marketing, design and products research, in a bid to reposition and redevelop our business model,” she said.
Besides producing and exporting freshwater pearls, Angeperle also supplies other types of pearls which are sourced directly from farms, skipping the wholesalers in order to keep their pearls price-competitive. Seeing the soaring demand for Japanese akoya pearls in China market, the company has increased the stock of Japanese akoya pearls since 2014 with an ideal sales performance.
“We always adhere to brand building in the supply chain. Through the cooperation with domestic and foreign well-known jewellery brands by offering them professional services and high-quality products, we have forged a successful vertical supply chain for pearl jewellery design, production, and distribution,” Qi expressed. In Angeperle’s clients list, there is no lack of famous brands, such as Tiffany & Co, Schoeffel, Chow Tai Fook, Lukfook Jewellery, Emperor Watch and Jewellery, etc. Dragon’s Pearl China’s saltwater pearl farms are mainly situated in Guangdong, Guangxi, and other coastal areas. Bounded by high farming costs, stringent technological requirements, demanding natural conditions, etc, saltwater pearl cultivation is less prevailing than freshwater pearl farming in China. Operating a farm and a processing factory in Beibu Gulf of the South China Sea,
Dragon’s Pearl
insists on dealing with saltwater pearls for 16 years and has become a professional saltwater pearl supplier in China.
The cultivation of saltwater pearls needs longer time and stricter requirements of the environment with relatively low production. Owing to the recent active demand for saltwater pearls in China, and the consequently reduced inventory in the market, price of akoya pearls has risen by approximately over 30 percent. “As early as 2013, we had repositioned our brand from a high-end, close to the market brand to a fashionable, close to lifestyle one, providing affordable pearl jewellery to customers. Through marketing campaigns, we have obtained considerable market share in China’s saltwater pearl market,” Cai Wenjiang, chairman of Dragon’s Pearl told Hong Kong Jewellery. He also believed that the increase of market demand and the following market self-regulation will undoubtedly drive the recovery and progress of the saltwater pearl farming industry in China.
For China’s saltwater pearl producers, competition is mainly from Japan. Pearl farming, processing, selling and market developing in Japan are very mature due to the long history of pearl cultivation. Pearl products from Japan have won good reputation internationally for their high quality. Cai expressed that China is the biggest pearl market worldwide at present. The expanding middle-class population, the improving living standard, the enhanced understanding of pearls, and the willingness to buy pearls will all foster the development of China’s pearl industry.
He noted that the biggest advantage of China’s pearl industry is the huge domastic market. Relying on this, practitioners should focus on developing, refining business operation, strengthening products quality, design and research, improving services, optimising the industry’s self-discipline, and avoiding vicious competition. “I am very optimistic about the outlook for China’s pearl market. Similar to the prosperous pearl markets in Japan and South Korea a decade ago, the glamour of pearls which contains the oriental appeal will be reflected distinctly in the China market,” he added.
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