[Ngoc]

Does anyone know of any pearl farming in Vietnam? It seems to me that Vietnam would be a natural location to farm pearls similar to China. I know that pearls are such a great product in China because of the low cost of labor and land, and Vietnam has this too. Just thought I would throw this out.

[jshepherd]

There are akoya pearling operations in Vietnam, but they have yet to garner much success. From what I have heard from Chinese pearl farmers in South China near Vietnam, the material coming cross-border is too cream-yellowish.

Vietnam has also harvested freshwater pearls is Lake Ho Tay, the biggest lake in Ha Noi. But I have not heard of anything from the region since the mid-nineties, and I understand that the lake has become so polluted that culturing high-quality freshwater pearls has become impossible.

Melo-melo pearls have also been found in Halong Bay, but these were natural occuring calcareous concretions.

[jshepherd]

Also, see the following news story that came out in 2001:

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/patrick.guen...news/pearl.htm