[Caitlin]

Another thread has an article on pearl growing areas worldwide. http://research.amnh.org/~mikkel/pearls/countries.html I was surprised to see that saltwater pearls are being cultured in the Philippines. They appear to be the South Sea type pearls mostly, but there also appears to be some farm activity in FW pearls in the Philippines! Another thread in this forum The future of the South Sea Pearl Industry in Australia
points to the changing markets in south sea pearls due to intense competition from Australian pearls to Indonesia and the Philippines.

Even though I am only asking about the Philippines here, I am interested in finding out more about the major global shifts in the pearl markets.

Where (what islands?) are the Philippine pearls produced?

Where marketed as both wholesale and retail? They do not seem to have an online reputation of their own. What pearls are actually Philippine?

Do the pearls that get exported go to some other market where they lose their identity as Philippine pearls and become generic “South Sea” pearls?

Do some of these pearls stay in the Philippines?
Where are the Philippine pearl manufacturing and wholesale markets located?
Can a local get a good deal on local pearls compared to what they would cost us here in the U.S?

How big are the Philippines domestic and export markets in pearls and or how fast growing?

Thanks for any answers or links!

Caitlin

[Caitlin]

I feel a little silly answering my own post and I certainly hope others will chime in. However the link cited above has a paragraph on pearls in the Philippines and mentions Palowan. Googling “Palowan pearls” got me to Jewelmer’s site: http://www.jewelmer.com/website/website/ssp.html

Apparently the Philippines have a very ancient presence in pearls- as old or older than Persian Gulf pearls. Palowan pearls are mentioned in Chinese trading manuscripts thousands of years ago.

Jewelmer is similar to Paspaley because they are a vertical pearl organization. They claim to be the only vertical pearl organization in the Philippines. Their jewelry design section on the website is small and very low end - Rubber necklace with pearl $12.50. <holds nose> I didn’t see a classic necklace anywhere on the site. This is the opposite of Paspaley. Jewelmer is completely lacking in elite attitude, but they must control a lot of pearls and where they go.

Jewelmer has a lot of good info about south sea pearl farming and culture on their website and pays an ecological nod to the Badjao tribe who they claim are the world’s greatest pearl divers. This tribe still has divers who bring back government allotted numbers of oysters, which Jewelmer then uses to culture pearls. Jewelmer brags that it costs the Paspaleys -and Aussies in general- far more to raise pearls than it costs them.

Now that I have read the websites of two vertical organizations, I wonder if Mikimoto was the model for this method of controlling pearls from culture to retail, or does it go back to ancient times and Mikimoto followed an ancient model? Obviously, it is not the only model for raising pearls and getting them to market, but owning the production end certainly gives you first choice among the pearls you raise yourself!

[purepearls]

Dear Caitlin,
You pose great questions to the pearls produced in the Philippines. I found this article that is very interesting: http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/mag...106046,00.html

It answers several of your questions and gives a nice glimpse to what is happening with pricing of pearls coming from this area versus the Australian market.

It appears that these pearls are being sold as South Sea pearls and not marketed as Philippine pearls.


Amanda Raab
President

[purepearls]

Besides South Seas coming from the Phillipines, one of the largest farms in Myanmar is supposed to be producing very high quality golden South Sea pearls as well. They are in cooperation with Japan so pricing is still high.

The demand for South Sea pearls is still much higher than supply so although competition is beginning to rise, prices will still most likely remain unchanging for some time.

Philippine south sea pearls

The only way to judge a pearl is to see it with your own eyes. One can't rely on websites or tags that guarantee where they're from. Example, just because Paspaley's website is more sophisticated than Jewelmer's you can't say their pearls are higher end. Jewelmer provides the highest quality pearls mostly for the European market. They farm in the Philippine seas alongside the Badjaos who have been diving for pearls for many centuries. To say that Australian south sea peals are better quality than Philippine south sea pearl is a rather uninformed statement.

[Caitlin]

HI Pearl-Girl

Cute name!

I reread my posts. Is this the sentence you object to?

“Their jewelry design section on the website is small and very low end - Rubber necklace with pearl $12.50. <holds nose> I didn’t see a classic necklace anywhere on the site. This is the opposite of Paspaley. Jewelmer is completely lacking in elite attitude,…..”

In my opinion, Jewelmer’s website was not as sophisticated as Paspaley’s and they do not indulge in the Mystique stuff, as Paspaley does. I hope I made no implication about the pearls! I am reviewing and comparing websites and info and style in that article, not pearls. But if someone else comes along –perhaps your comments will help clarify for them better.

You said, "To say that Australian south sea peals are better quality than Philippine south sea pearl is a rather uninformed statement." I can't find where I said that. Even though I have posted a lot here- I am not a pearl expert- that is a title for posting more than 25 posts or something. I am a reporter and question asker.

You sound like you know something….Can you answer any of my questions in the first couple of posts in this thread?

[jshepherd]

I agree that it is impossible to tell the overall quality of a company’s pearls without direct examination and the Philippines do produce beautiful SSP's - especially Jewelmer. Jewelmer also spends the most on marketing, with extravagant displays in Hong Kong, hosting jazz festivals in the Philippines, and inviting authors to tour their farming areas.

But, the Philippines do have a long way to go to catch up to their Australian counterparts in terms of overall value. Although a lot of beautiful gems are coming out of the Philippines, the numbers still paint a different picture. The production estimates for 2005 (locally produced) for SSP's are 3.2m tons in Australian, 3.8 tons in Indonesia, and 1.7 tons in the Philippines.

This means that Indonesia is producing more than even Australia. This is not completely surprising as Indonesia relies heavily on a hatchery system while Australia is still dealing with a near-archaic quota system of 572,000 wild catch and 350,000 hatchery bred. But according to the numbers (and only taking into account these 3 SSP producing areas and not adding in the smaller areas and Myanmar) the percentages are as follows:
Indonesia produces 43.678 percent.
Australia produces 36.78 percent.
The Philippines produce 19.54 percent.

But what actually shows the value of the pearls is not the percentage of production; it is the total value of production compared with the percentage. The total estimated value of production is $248 million US dollars. The estimated value breakdown is as follows:
Australia's total value estimate is $123 million - 52.79%
Indonesia's total value estimation is $85 million - 36.48%
The Philippines total value estimation is $25 million - 10.73%

What this indicates is that although Australia only produces approximately 36% of the SSP's for these 3 regions, the overall quality of the goods produced command more than 50% of the market's value. This logically would indicate that the overall quality of SSP’s produced in Australia is better than those produced in other regions.

I would certainly not discount the pearls from Indonesia nor the Philippines, however. I have carried a lot of beautiful (especially the golden) pieces from these countries, and I think that although they are in the early stages they have a lot of growth potential and Australia will (and already does to a large extent) feel a lot of competition from them.

[Caitlin]

The REAL expert speaketh! Great post, so informative.

I am actually very impressed by the activities that Jshepherd mentions that Jewelmer does, especially the jazz festival! Anyone who supports jazz has my attention.

I also have appreciated the Filipino Badjao pearl divers, part of an elite guild found around the world.... Maybe Jewelmer could sponsor a pearl diving rodeo/competition and invite the Yaquis from the Sea of Cortez and some Persian Gulf divers- I bet there are still a few -to determine the all time world champions of the osyter grab! I bet there are Tahitians and other nations who could put on a good showing diving too! Of course they would use some sommon variety of mollusc, not pearl oysters or endangered species

Whereas I think the Badjao may have a more continuous history recently, I think the actual air-holding abilities are probably in the genes and still there!

Where (what islands?) are the Philippine pearls produced?
- Visayas, Palawan, Jolo, Mindanao.

Where marketed as both wholesale and retail? They do not seem to have an online reputation of their own. What pearls are actually Philippine?
- Gold, White and Black SSPs are native to the region. They are cultivating Akoyas and FW pearls too. However, the type of pearl depends on the region and the farm. Jolo and Tawi Tawi, for example, has mainly gold lip Pinctada Maxima. Jewelmer only sells gold/champagne pearls because for the same reason. Philippine pearl manufacters have excellent quality pearls [as does Indonesia, but no one talks about them either] and they wholesale Tiffany's, Mikimoto, Schoeffel and more - taking the back seat usually. But Jewelmer is now branding themselves and marketing manufacturing services too.

Do the pearls that get exported go to some other market where they lose their identity as Philippine pearls and become generic “South Sea” pearls? - Yes, usually, but that is the same with Myannmar, Vietnam, China and Indonesia.

Do some of these pearls stay in the Philippines?
Of course, Filipinos buy a lot of pearls too.

Where are the Philippine pearl manufacturing and wholesale markets located?
- All the showrooms are in Manila. All the farms are on the islands.

Can a local get a good deal on local pearls compared to what they would cost us here in the U.S?
Yes, on the retail end. There are only a few people authorized to sell from the big pearl farms. You'll have to be a designer, jewelry manufacturer or retail outlet in order to get wholesale prices.

How big are the Philippines domestic and export markets in pearls and or how fast growing?
- don't know

Good luck.

[Caitlin]

Swinka

Thanks for your good responses.

I am looking forward to seeing Filipino pearls capturing a larger market share and getting more publicity for their own merits.

I did find out about the Palowan pearls, but this is the first mention of
- Visayas, Jolo, Mindanao I have heard. I will Google them when I get a chance.

Caitlin,

I am from the Philippines and I would love to someday see our pearls become widely known as one of the best pearls in the world.

I read somewhere that the pearls in the Phillipines are bought by the Japanese,in particular, by Mikimoto.

Thankyou Swinka, Great reply & info!

dear pearltime,

i am very interested in what you said,

"I read somewhere that the pearls in the Phillipines are bought by the Japanese,in particular, by Mikimoto."

was wondering if you could possibly share where you have gotten this information. i would be interested in reading it. thank you.

abby