jshepherd
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2004
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I have just returned to the US after a short trip to Asia with my son. We spent 3 days in Kobe, 3 in Guangdong, and 2 in Hong Kong. We had 3 goals, one for each stop. In Kobe we purchased a new lot of 8-9.5mm Akoyas, in Guangdong we visited several farms examining their new 6.5mm harvests, and in Hong Kong we intended to meet with a findings factory for clasps. The first two stops were successful, but we were caught in a typhoon in Hong Kong so the findings design meeting is put off until August.
This thread is to report my findings on the new and future crops of 6-6.5mm Akoya strands.
Our farm in Haian has just finished harvesting a large crop of 6-6.5mm pearls. This harvest is one of the best I have ever seen coming out of China. This is not just in terms of the individual quality of the pearls (we are accustomed to seeing pearls equivalent to their Japanese counterparts), but the consistency as well. In the past each harvest yielded only a small portion of high-quality, white round pearls. These were the exception, not the rule. I will try to attach a photo of myself examining these pearls to this post.
After examining the entire harvest I have concluded that we will be able to produce approximately 9000 strands commercial and higher, with up to 2000 strands being of high-quality, and more than 500 strands AAA (or gem-quality). This is a very large number compared to the 117 gem-strands we produced from the last 6.5-7mm harvest.
This is a snapshot of what is happening at our farm. This is not necessarily indicative of what will be available to buyers by the September show, however. This production of 6-6.5mm’s is definitely exceptional. Most farms are still harvesting larger pearls in China.
Due to the extreme lack of availability of 6-6.5mm pearls for the last two years the price has gone up dramatically. Our farm has received multiple inquiries from companies based in Hong Kong requesting our entire harvest – at a premium. Wholesalers are still scrambling to fill quotas and orders, but the production is still not high enough. But this is about to change, I feel.
While at the farm we decided to take a short trip up the coast to visit some other pearling areas. We passed through Xieling (a dying pearling ground) to visit the hundreds of nucleation sheds dotting the coast. This area, albeit once famous, is now infamous for its low-quality pearls due to over-culturing and neighboring shrimp farms. But one thing you can always count on is this area will follow the $.
Nearly every actively nucleating shed we passed one thing stuck out more than anything else – the size of the oysters and the size of the nuclei. They were nucleating 6.5’s almost exclusively. They are all trying to cash in on this shortage. I imagine it is similar in other pearling areas as well.
While this may sound welcoming to some, it may have some adverse effects. The shortage will not last long. What this means is that the farmers are going to have good reason to shorten the culturing process and remove the pearls too early. We all remember the Akoyas coming from China just a few short years ago when kilo ruled over quality. I am afraid this will happen again in the next 5-7 months. The farmers must know that by the end of an adequate culturing process the shortage will be over and the average price for 6.5’s may very well be back down to $700/kilo. Why should they wait the extra year if they can nearly get that immediately for low-commercial?
Another problem I see is that prices may go up quite rapidly for 6.5-7mm pearls. While I predict 7-7.5mm will remain relatively unchanged (the profit margin keeps production high) switching to smaller oysters and nuclei for a higher margin is definitely a winning proposition for most farmers.
This thread is to report my findings on the new and future crops of 6-6.5mm Akoya strands.
Our farm in Haian has just finished harvesting a large crop of 6-6.5mm pearls. This harvest is one of the best I have ever seen coming out of China. This is not just in terms of the individual quality of the pearls (we are accustomed to seeing pearls equivalent to their Japanese counterparts), but the consistency as well. In the past each harvest yielded only a small portion of high-quality, white round pearls. These were the exception, not the rule. I will try to attach a photo of myself examining these pearls to this post.
After examining the entire harvest I have concluded that we will be able to produce approximately 9000 strands commercial and higher, with up to 2000 strands being of high-quality, and more than 500 strands AAA (or gem-quality). This is a very large number compared to the 117 gem-strands we produced from the last 6.5-7mm harvest.
This is a snapshot of what is happening at our farm. This is not necessarily indicative of what will be available to buyers by the September show, however. This production of 6-6.5mm’s is definitely exceptional. Most farms are still harvesting larger pearls in China.
Due to the extreme lack of availability of 6-6.5mm pearls for the last two years the price has gone up dramatically. Our farm has received multiple inquiries from companies based in Hong Kong requesting our entire harvest – at a premium. Wholesalers are still scrambling to fill quotas and orders, but the production is still not high enough. But this is about to change, I feel.
While at the farm we decided to take a short trip up the coast to visit some other pearling areas. We passed through Xieling (a dying pearling ground) to visit the hundreds of nucleation sheds dotting the coast. This area, albeit once famous, is now infamous for its low-quality pearls due to over-culturing and neighboring shrimp farms. But one thing you can always count on is this area will follow the $.
Nearly every actively nucleating shed we passed one thing stuck out more than anything else – the size of the oysters and the size of the nuclei. They were nucleating 6.5’s almost exclusively. They are all trying to cash in on this shortage. I imagine it is similar in other pearling areas as well.
While this may sound welcoming to some, it may have some adverse effects. The shortage will not last long. What this means is that the farmers are going to have good reason to shorten the culturing process and remove the pearls too early. We all remember the Akoyas coming from China just a few short years ago when kilo ruled over quality. I am afraid this will happen again in the next 5-7 months. The farmers must know that by the end of an adequate culturing process the shortage will be over and the average price for 6.5’s may very well be back down to $700/kilo. Why should they wait the extra year if they can nearly get that immediately for low-commercial?
Another problem I see is that prices may go up quite rapidly for 6.5-7mm pearls. While I predict 7-7.5mm will remain relatively unchanged (the profit margin keeps production high) switching to smaller oysters and nuclei for a higher margin is definitely a winning proposition for most farmers.
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