| Correct. Material sizes available from first-stage processors went from 25/75 to 50/50 and now 75/25 (percentage of pearls falling below the middle range). These are the processors on the production and collection level and they set the sizes every year. They are the same ones responsible for dropping the material MM sizes too. The 75/25 does not mean every necklace is going to be the same, of course. But the average across the industry that it creates is an overall smaller average size.
The processors hate this (second and third stage). The buyers hate this. But there is nothing they can do because even the medium-size processors who do own farms are very dependent upon the large producers and collectors in order to have any volume of high-grade production (the percentage is just so small).
We have been switching our inventory to half MM sizes. Soon, we will only be selling the upper half MM of each size. In the past we have been separating materials to reach exact sizes (in China, not here). But it has gotten more and more difficult, especially around the center of the strands due to the new 75/25 rule. By switching to .5 we don't have this problem any more. |