"12mm and up" pearls ... where are you hiding now?

[Marama]

Hello,

Where are all the 12 mm and up pearls?

Since the end of 2006, the big Tahitian pearls have little by little disappeared from the market. Do you have any ideas about this?

As a small pearl farmer, I will try to explain the different reason of this mysterious disappearing. I am sorry but my English is a little bit poor.

First of all, let me give you some good hypothesis concerning the Tahitian pearls (and the pearl farming):
1/ Pearl inspection is controlling the pearl layer. It has to be at least at 0.8 mm of thickness everywhere on the surface.
2/ it takes:
+ 2.5 years to get mature oysters ready for the grafting, from the spats. A mature oyster size is 10 to 12 cm of diameter.
+ 18 months from the first operation to a mature pearl
+ 15 months from the second operation to a mature second grafted pearl
3/ for the first operation (or graft), we are usually using 2.2 BU nuclei (1BU= 3.03 mm , so a 2.2 nuclei is around 6.6 mm of diameter)
(BU is a Japanese unit for the nucleus size)

This information is from what I have in the lagoon of Takaroa.
NB: first operation = first graft, second operation = second graft

Knowing that, you can understand the following point:
1/ as a 2.2 nucleus has a diameter of 6.6 mm and as the minimum layer should be 0.8mm per side, so a mature pearl should have the size of: 0.8mm + 6.6mm + 0.8 mm = 8.2mm
So it means that after 18 months, you should have a harvest with most of your pearls with size over 8.2mm

2/ From this point, it also means that the second operation would be with nucleus of 8.2mm (so 2.7BU) and will lead to a second grafted pearl of minimum: 0.8mm + 8.2mm + 0.8mm = 9.8mm (after 15 months)

To summarize:
1st operation gives pearls of 8.2mm and up
2nd operation gives pearls of 9.8mm and up
3rd operation gives pearls of 11.4mm and up

Also, pearls from second operation have less color.
The bigger nuclei are more expensive, so the costs of the 2nd and 3rd operations are higher.

First conclusion:
1/ It is easier to produce smaller size pearls.
Actually, you can even save time if you are using smaller oysters (8cm to 9 cm) and also some smaller nuclei (2.0bu). You will produce pearls of 7.6 mm t least, and the color would be stronger. Percentage of round shape would increase. (nb: smaller oysters are cheaper also)
2/ If the farmer want to have money faster, he can make his harvest after 9 months (instead of 18 months); this will decrease the average size of the pearls in his lot. At the pearl inspection service, he should have more than 5% of rejected pearls (instead of less than 1% usually). But this way, the farmer can almost produce twice the quantity of pearls in the same time.
3/ to save money, the farmer will stop to make second operation and more. (nb: 2n and 3rd operation need a lot of work under the water)

But anyway, this will lead to an over production of very small pearls of 8mm and the number of pearls from 11 mm and up would disappear.

So anytime, the price of the Tahitian pearl is falling, you can be sure that the number of bigger pearls (over 11mm) will decrease one year later.

Robert Wan is a lucky guy; he is the owner of an island called Marutea Sud (or South Marutea); He is the only pearl farmer in this island; for years and years, he could use the wild oysters (those are the oyster who leaves in the corals) that are bigger, so that can accept bigger nucleus (1st operation with 3.0bu nuclei = 10.7 mm pearls at least). So this was a big advantage for him. But today, there are some rumors that said that his natural stock has decreased a lot.

I don’t know if I was enough clear, but I hope that this post has unlighted you to understand why big pearls has disappeared from the market.

If you have any other question, I would be glad to help you.

Bye bye
Marama

[Pearl Dreams]

That was enlightening-- thank you for posting.

[Hanaleimom]

Thank you, Maramar, for the information.

Does South Marutea have more wild oysters than other islands?

[Marama]

Hello,

During the last century, there was a big business with the Mother Of Pearl; there was some diving campaigns and hundred of divers were moving from island to island; this also contributes to impoverish the natural stock of oysters; some scientist said that it also lead to impoverish the gene pool of each island.
Fortunately, some island were very far or unsafe (very hard to access to the lagoon), and South Marutea was one of that kind. Mr Branelec (yes, the one from Jewelmer) was the one who discovered this last one.
Today, there are still some islands with wild oysters; some of them are protected by some governmental laws, others are protected by military laws.

Cheers,
Marama

[CLICLASP]

Hello Marama,
This is utmost interesting !
What is your opinion on the forthcoming Tahiti pearls business,
regarding what happened recently with PdT GIE and tax suspending till end of the year ?
Thanks a lot

[Marama]

Oups....

no good news at all for the business.

Since last week, the export tax is officially suspended for 3 months from the 1st of october to the 31st of december
I think we can talk about this tax for a long time.

Yesterday, there was a meeting at the GIE PdT. We heard that it was really stormy.

Anyway, all the pearls farmers are upset against the GIE PdT, because they are paying the export taxes and the overall conclusion concerning the efficiency of the promotion is less than 10 new customers in the last 10 years of activity.

Farmers are not economists but they can see that the price of the pearl is falling little by little every day. They also know that the GIE PdT have used more than 100 millions USD in 10 years. Won't you be mad if it was your money?

So, pearl business is not in good health in Tahiti. Some farmers are selling at 5$ per pearls (but of course, 8mm and low quality... don't think it is 11 mm) but they are closing their business... They have lost the faith on the pearl business.

We should see a massive pearl export volume during the last quarter of 2008, but do not consider this as a good sign;
Some buyers will make some good deal, but maybe the last one for a long time... this would be the Tahitian pearl recession.

I am rather pessimistic. Sorry.

Marama

[Valeria101]

... GIE PdT, ...concerning the efficiency of the promotion is less than 10 new customers in the last 10 years of activity... the GIE PdT have used more than 100 millions USD in 10 years.

By these numbers, those 10 customers better be mighty big ones, LOL!


Thanks for the story of pearls and prices. Any guess for what's the main culprit(s) for the price drop? Is it something about the way black pearls are produced or mainly things independent of the sector altogether?

The story of perverse incentives you describe in the first post here would be enough for gloom and doom any day... however, it seems that with a limited number of black pearl growers working at arm's length more or less, a 'run to the bottom' is not so obvious.

[pearlescence]

Only Ten new customers? Appalling. More than appalling. Apppallling in fact. I am assuming you mean ten wholesalers or jewellers. It sounds as if the GIE was in the business of promoting itself and employing people. There is a lot of that about in marketing. The idea of marketing is to sell stuff, not to win advertising awards (cf Mastrioli or whatever they are called's website) or keep advertising and marketing consultants in employment.

[jerin]

That is really depressing news. If these large sums over the 10 years would have gone to the farmers instead, perhaps not so many would now be forced to give up. At least now they should put down their foot against the GIE d P and restrict the money flow for just promoting the pearls.

[Caitlin]

Hi Marama
Your point of view is an excellent dimension to add to the posts over here. It looks like the pearl bureaucracy in Tahiti is the main contributor to the present situation.

I hope the CI and Fiji come up with a better model for black pearls, and that Tahiti gets people who really can improve the situation. Tahitian pearls may be on the brink of losing their Mystique, and several other islands may soon become competitive-assuming they have a better oversight of the business.

[Marama]

CI and Fidji are starting in the pearl business... Let wish them a successful story.

I still don't think that they could produce big size pearl...
They will start from scratch.
At least 4 years to 6 years before they could make the first harvest of bigger pearls (but do not think of 14 mm and up).

I talked with a lot of farmers... All of them have very few second grafted oysters and they confirmed that they will hardly produce 12mm and up pearls.

I heard that R Wan is also producing less big pearls.

My advice: If you have big pearls, DON'T SELL THEM.
There is an overproduction of 8mm pearls;
9mm and 10mm are easy to find
11mm to 13 mm, not so many on the local market and do not hesitate to buy them (there are still some good quality pearls)
14mm and up, very hard to find good quality and pricey…

Bye
Marama

[Josh]

I agree with Marama. Large pearls come from the second and third grafts. The nuclei needed to do those larger sizes is many times the price of first graft nuclei so that factors in as well. You dabble in giant nuclei when times are good, not when they're not.

[CortezPearls]

Josh:
What is your opinion on Bironite nuclei...we haven't tried them because we never use nuclei larger than 10 mm. Aussies are using it (with good results I've heard) but what is your take on the subject???

Could these help Tahitians produce more larger pearls? Or is the problem mainly having to do with the oyster's size as is our case?

[Mikeyy]

Josh:
What is your opinion on Bironite nuclei...we haven't tried them because we never use nuclei larger than 10 mm. Aussies are using it (with good results I've heard) but what is your take on the subject???

Could these help Tahitians produce more larger pearls? Or is the problem mainly having to do with the oyster's size as is our case?

Really? Who is using Bironite in Australia?

[Josh]

Douglas,
Good to hear from you again.
Bironite isn't smooth enough for me. Maybe they have made progress on it since I've used it (it's been years now) but it's also pretty expensive compared to prices of US White or even Pinctada MOP, both of which have come down a lot in recent years.