| A: |
What does the term "colored stones" cover?
|
| B: |
Here we are talking about the polished and finished stones (not raw ore and synthetic stones) commonly known as loose stones, other than diamonds. The term mainly refers to stones such as rubies, sapphires, emeralds and so on. |
| A: |
And so on?
|
| B: |
Things like aquamarine, zircon, opal, turquoise, cat's-eye, agate, amber, coral, and amethyst etc.
|
| A: |
What you would call precious and semi-precious stones in English then. The stones used as birthstones, right?
|
| B: |
That's right. As the border between precious and semi-precious stones is unclear, they've come to be lumped together as colored stones, or "iroishi" in Japanese. |
| A: |
The jewelry business is heavily affected by prevailing business conditions, I understand, and the Japanese jewelry market, which had previously enjoyed rapid growth, is now in the doldrums due to the collapse of the bubble economy.
|
| B: |
Yes. Total imports of colored stones in 1998 came to 410,000 kilocarats (a carat is a unit of weight for gemstones equivalent to 0.2g) in volume terms and ¥20.845 billion in value terms, representing falls of 4.7% in weight and 37.3% in value respectively from the previous year. Imports vary considerably from year to year. They grew steadily from 1985 as a result of the impact of the abolition of the commodity tax, the jewelry boom, and the strong yen, and peaked in value terms in 1990. Prices have subsequently dropped due to the slump in domestic consumption. Now what are being imported are not high quality but rather cheap gems. Since 1995, there has been a conspicuous fall in demand for semi-precious stones, and imports of colored stones in 1998 were less than half what they were five years earlier in terms of volume. The reason for this is that the use for costume jewelry has dropped precipitously. |
| A: |
What about Japanese colored stones exports?
|
| B: |
In 1998, exports of rubies, sapphires and emeralds to Switzerland and Hong Kong amounted to only ¥50 million, while exports of other semi-precious stones to places like the USA, China and Hong Kong came to only around ¥14 million. |
| A: |
What have imports been like over the past few years?
|
| B: |
There has been a tremendous drop, as you can see from these figures:
|
1996 |
1997 |
1998 |
Rubies, sapphires and emeralds
|
28,636 |
17,208 |
9,743 |
| Others |
22,112 |
16,061 |
11,102 |
| Total |
50,748 |
33,269 |
20,845 |
(Unit: million yen; Source: Japan Trade Monthly) |
| A: |
Yes, I can see. These figures reflect the depressed state of the Japanese economy, don't they? What are the figures like broken down by country?
|
| B: |
Rubies, sapphires and emeralds are produced in Asia and Latin America. The biggest source of imports is Thailand, which is not only a producer but also the world's center for gem polishing and finishing. In recent years, Thailand has accounted for around half of all imports in value terms, followed by Colombia, which is well known for emeralds. The biggest source of other kinds of colored stones, accounting for some 30% of imports, is Hong Kong, which although not a producer has a flourishing polishing and finishing industry. Opal is imported from Australia, and cat's-eye, zircon and amethyst are imported from Brazil. The following table provides a clearer picture of trends in imports:
- Rubies, sapphires and emeralds
|
1996 |
1997 |
1998 |
| Thailand |
11,831 |
7,696 |
4,872 (50.0%) |
| Colombia |
9,150 |
4,808 |
2,781 (28.5%)
|
Hong Kong
|
1,937 |
1,210 |
709 (7.3%) |
Sri Lanka
|
1,770 |
1,201 |
624 (6.4%) |
| India |
2,151 |
1,224 |
350 (3.6%) |
| Others |
1,796 |
1,070 |
407 (4.2%) |
- Others
|
1996 |
1997 |
1998 |
Hong Kong
|
6,053 |
4,303 |
3,417 (30.8%)
|
| Australia |
4,550 |
3,393 |
1,950 (17.6%) |
| Thailand |
3,551 |
1,910 |
1,518 (13.6%) |
| Brazil |
2,360 |
1,601 |
1,092 (9.8%) |
| India |
1,716 |
1,475 |
817 (7.4%) |
| Others |
3,882 |
3,370 |
2,313 (20.8%) |
(Unit: million yen; Source: Japan Trade Monthly)
Colored stones are 100% imported as they are not found in Japan.
|
|
| A: |
Are there any procedures or restrictions governing the import or sale of colored stones?
|
| B: |
None in particular. Since 1994, however, Association of Gem Laboratories and Japan Jewelry Association have been promoting greater disclosure of information about gems in general. When improvements are made to methods of producing gems, for example, it is necessary to report the changes to a grader and display proof of this at the stores.
|
| A: |
About how many companies are there in Japan that classify and grade colored stones?
|
| B: |
There are currently 70 private organizations that do so. The Gem Graders' Association, which is an organization of gem graders, is working to standardize and harmonize standards.
|
| A: |
What conditions must a gem fulfill?
|
| B: |
There are three main ones that you could mention: beauty, durability, and scarcity. In order to deal in gems, you need experience and a discriminating eye. People who can tell whether something is genuine or not are indispensable in this line of business.
|
| A: |
There must be few colored stones that can be sold just as they are.
|
| B: |
That's true. Most are made into jewelry for sale. Thus businesses also provide after-sales services such as size adjustments, cleaning, adjusting the tightness of the claws holding a gem in place, and making over old designs. It is useful being able to take jewelry to where you bought it for repair, and as making over old jewelry can easily result in problems, it cannot be done just anywhere.
|
| A: |
Are there any recent trends among consumers to speak of?
|
| B: |
A trend is emerging favoring style, feel and ease of coordination with other fashion accessories and items of clothing rather than price. Many young women especially want to be able to incorporate jewelry into their everyday look, and semi-precious stones have become commonly used for this purpose. Also, so-called fashion rings with gems have started to be used as engagement rings, which used to have only diamonds.
|
- Back to Previous Page - |
