Journal

Pearl Industry: An Introduction

Overview of the Global Jewellery Industry

In 2019, the global jewellery industry was estimated to be worth about USD 230 billion with a growth rate of approximately 3.7%. The Asia Pacific is a key market as it has the highest growth globally. Collectively, the US and Europe, however, remained its highest spenders. The leading jewellery individual markets are China, USA, India, Japan, and Russia. The growth can be largely attributable to the internet that helped increase awareness, demand, and ease of purchasing jewellery, especially amongst the young and millennials who are the biggest spenders on clothing and jewellery.

Formation of Pearls

We are told that pearls are formed when the proverbial sand gets into the oyster and initiates the reaction that eventually produces the pearl. This is only half of the story as any other irritants such as a dead sea worm will do the job equally well. So when it settles in the oyster, the irritated oyster does the only thing possible; try to live with it by reducing the irritation by coating it with nacre. Over time, the act of layering the nacre upon the dead visitor forms the pearl whose beauty is just unimaginable.

Characteristics of Different Pearl Oysters

Pearls will naturally take on the characteristics of the oysters in which they grew. The Pinctada fucata produces small and creamy-colored pearls and is amongst the smallest of the pearl-producing oysters. They are interchangeably - and sometimes annoyingly and confusingly - known as Akoya pearls due to the distinction of it being the first pearl to be cultivated in the 1920s in Akoya, Japan.

Then you have the opposite; the glistening black pearl of the Pinctada margaritifera. A little-known fact about this genus is that it is a protandrous hermaphrodite, which means it begins life as a male and later changes into a female. At the opposite end of the girth scale, far from the diminutive Akoyas, we have the many-hued South Sea pearls of the Pinctada maxima genus; the world’s largest pearl oyster which can grow to the size of a dinner plate. Pinctada Maxima comes with two different color varieties: the silver and gold-lipped oysters.

Main Producing Regions

The three main producing regions are:

• The white Japanese Akoya pearls
• The black, gold, and white South Sea pearls mainly from Tahiti, Australia, and Indonesia
• Freshwater pearls from China

South Sea Pearls

South Sea pearls are generally the largest due to their thick covering of nacre, which not only contributes to their size but also optically gives them deep luster, making them mechanically less likely to discolor or degenerate. They are generally 3 to 20 times more expensive than Akoya pearls.

Chinese Freshwater Pearls

Whilst the Akoya and South Sea pearls are seawater pearls, Chinese pearls are primarily, if not exclusively, freshwater pearls. China leads the world in the production of freshwater pearls, supplying about 99.9 percent of the world’s freshwater pearls, approximately 1,500 tons annually. By comparison, the worldwide saltwater production is only 60 tons. Freshwater pearls are small, oddly-shaped, and colored. Chinese pearls are generally perceived as mass-produced, high-yield, and low-value.

Historical Context

The practice of inducing oysters to produce pearls is not a 20th-century invention but goes back more than a thousand years. It was only in 1905 that the process was mastered by Mikimoto Kokichi, a near-broke noodle vendor who rose to become known as the English-suited-and-bowl-hatted Pearl King. His rags-to-riches story is one of the more amusing anecdotes in the annals of pearls and the stuff of Hollywood movies.

Japanese Pearling Industry

The Japanese purportedly controlled the pearl industry. In the past, pearls grown outside of Japan were seeded by only Japanese technicians and processed in Japanese farms. They were sold at prices set by the Japanese Government. Kobe is renowned for its pearls and is where about 350 pearl-related companies are located. In 2008, it was responsible for 62.4 percent of Japan's pearl exports consisting mostly of white Akoya pearls. Okinawa was at one time the only place in Japan (and the world) where black pearls were cultured. Of late, the Japanese pearl industry has been hurt by competition from Chinese freshwater pearls. They are fighting back by developing new kinds of jewellery and accessories at more attractive prices and venturing into non-traditional products and markets such as the pearl-decorated cell phone covers and bags for the younger generation.

Chinese Pearls

China is the largest producer of cultured pearls in the world, producing about 1,500 tonnes annually; nearly all of them freshwater pearls. The country has a long and rich history in pearls; regions like Hepu and Behai had active marine pearl fisheries as early as the Han dynasty, and reports of pearl finds in rivers and lakes date back to the 4th millennium BC. Sadly, Chinese cultured pearls have long been associated with mass production, low value, and relatively low quality. Whereas seawater oysters can produce one or two cultured pearls at a time, freshwater mussels can produce up to 30 or even 50 pearls. This may help explain the abundance of freshwater cultured pearls and why they are also so much cheaper. The majority of freshwater mussels are cultivated in disused rice paddies converted to become artificial lakes. Manure and other animal waste are used to feed the algae, the food source of mollusks.

Industry Issues and Challenges

Lack of Knowledge

Pearls have now become a commodity due to the sheer volume of pearls in the market. They are no longer the limited, expensive, and exquisite jewellery they once were. Most high-street jewellers are not trained on the finer points about pearls and will often regurgitate what little they know. They will tell - but not demonstrate - to clients about the size, shape, color, luster, and the many different kinds of pearls available, when most people - themselves included - are unable to differentiate between natural and cultured pearls or cultured saltwater and freshwater pearls.

Chinese Freshwater and Imitation Pearls Drowning the Market

Chinese lookalikes cost as little as a tenth of the price of others. This is made worse by how easy it is to produce imitation pearls: all that is required is a bit of bleaching, dyeing, and polishing to dress up run-of-the-mill and indifferent pearls and pass them on as naturally cultured pearls. This sets a precedent for others to imitate.

Lack of Environmental Consideration

When maximizing profit overtakes environmental consideration and when we forget that it is the environment and ecosystem that actually produce the pearls, the oyster - nature’s best alarm system for pollution - suffers. Irresponsible producers take the easy way out; find a new location and relocate when the current one is no longer productive. A case in point is Lake Biwa, Japan’s largest freshwater lake and once famous for its freshwater pearls. It has been damaged by pollution and is now left barren since the early 1990s.

Overproduction

This is largely due to new entrants producing mainly freshwater pearls which are cheaper and easier to produce. As such, the average prices for pearls, especially South Sea pearls, have seen a fall since the mid-2000s.

Slow to React to Market Needs

The industry has been slow to position traditional pearl pieces and designs to the liking of today’s more informal, mobile, and casual lifestyles. The pearl strand and necklaces, which have historically been the industry’s mainstay, are fast becoming outdated and are being challenged by new bolder designs.

Is the Industry Doomed?

Will the true producers of natural pearls survive amidst all these challenges, especially posed by cheap and fake pearls? The solution is to learn from Swatch and make pearls a part of the everyday wardrobe. The diamond industry has figured this out by making diamonds a part of everyday living. They concentrated on a few key styles that women can wear when sweating it out in the gym or at business meetings or when wearing designer jeans on their night out or for all three occasions.

Innovative Designers and Trends

The good news is that there are a few designers that are now mixing pearls with different gemstones, beads, metals, and textures like suede and leathers. Given the varieties of shapes and colors pearls offer, designers are exploring, combining, contrasting, and intermixing pearls to create totally new expressions to make pearls relevant and everyday wearable. The industry has to reinvent itself and get out of the present mindset and preoccupation and explore more daring and chic styles to complement the traditional and classical interpretations of pearls which it has always offered and that has passed its prime and relevance for the time being.