First JNA Chinese Online Conference concludes

Jewellery News Asia (JNA) Chinese Online Conference is the first Chinese online forum organsed to feature and discuss the latest development in China’s colored gemstones market. It took place on August 23, 2012.

Sharing views on the subject, Wilson Yuen, president of International Colored Gemstone Association noted that there is a hike in the prices of some luxurious colored gems such as fine ruby and emerald despite the European debt crisis. He noted that “People value the rarity of gems that take thousands of years to form and decided to invest on them”. He also added that “The price of gems is heading to a positive direction. Among all those countries, China is a huge market with full potential”. Yuen suggested that spreading the culture sensation of colored gemstone can help achieve a healthy development and that as of now Chinese people are drawn to coloured gemstones more as investments instead of art appreciation. “Maybe we need to promote the image of colored gemstone as something a family will keep for generations”, said Yuen.

A research conducted by Gems & Jewelry Trade Association of China noted that China’s colored gemstone market is growing well, and the sales of jewellery and gem stood at 300billion RMB (around 45 billion US dollars) in 2011, up 20 percent from 2010.

At the Conference, Yuen was joined by Liu Ge, deputy general manager of Caibai, the biggest gold and jewelry franchise in Beijing; Ms Vicky Chan, sales and marketing director of ENZO and Ms Jaye Cha, assistant general manager of CAC (H.K.) Gems Laboratory Ltd.

The speakers shared their experience on the business practice in the Greater China region. All emphasized the need for education activities to achieve the best in the Chinese market. ENZO, under the American Lorenzo Group, focused on the process from mining to market while Cha shared the experience of gem testing laboratory standards.

“Based on our 50-year laboratory experience, we find out 150,000 RMB is the line that separates the people buying the gems as investments from the ones treating the gem as some sort of accessory. When people purchase gems that worth over 150,000 RMB, they are more likely to pay special attention to its value, origins and post-treatment”, said Cha.

The Conference welcomed questions from the online audience, most of whom wanted to know the outlook of the gemstone market and what could be done to further boost the market demand. The online conference was hosted by JNA and sponsored by UBM. “One good thing about this online conference is the real-time feedback. This format of discussion should be practiced more in the future”, said Christie Dang, moderator of the conference, also publisher and editor of the magazine Jewelry News Asia. The online conference aims to provide a platform for successful practitioners in the colored gemstone industry to share their experience in developing the Greater China market, according to Dang.