Consumers are indicating a preference for jewellery with coloured stones over single gems like diamonds. Emeralds and rubies are demand, leading to almost a 60 to 80 percent increase in the price of emeralds during the current year.
Mr. Ishu Datwani of Anmol Jewellers reaffirmed that “Demand for colour gem stones has increased by as much as 60 percent in the past one year and that there is a huge supply constraint from the miner’s side, which are pushing up the prices. The issue is more acute when it comes sourcing of high- end emerald of larger sizes”
The Gem traders in Jaipur ( a city which cuts and polishes almost 90 percent of the worlds rough emeralds by volume) spoke at length about the shortage of Zambian Emeralds. According to Mr. Dinesh Khatoriya ( Ex President Jaipur Jewellery Association) - Valentine Jewellery “ Zambia produces almost 20 to 25 percent of the world’s rough emeralds. The Zambian emeralds are known for their deep green colour and clarity. However he claims that there has been no supply of Zambian emeralds in the past one year or so, and hence there has been a drought of Zambian emeralds globally, which has increased the prices of rough Zambian emeralds manifold.”
Mr. Sanjay Singhal - Singhal Gems,Jaipur said,”Columbia which is the world’s largest producer of emeralds has been facing its own internal crisis as the supply has been very erratic. He also said the emeralds from Brazil are not as good as the emeralds from Zambia or Columbia. The cutting factories in Jaipur prefer to use Zambian emeralds. However due to the acute shortage of rough and demand for emeralds by Indian consumers emeralds in general and Zambian in particular have seen steep price increases.”
When contacted Mr. Rajiv Gupta, founder and Executive Vice Chairman of Gemfields, who have recently bought the Kagem mine, the largest Emerald mine in Zambia said “The Emerald mining industry thus far had been quite primitive in its ways and the mines have been hugely undercapitalized. With the adoption of modern mining methods the cost of production has gone up multifold since the mining has gone deep over 70 metres in depth the excavation cost escalate tremendously. Also the high cost of crude has increased the cost of production. Salaries and expatriate holding cost at mines are at an all time high” Mr Gupta further stated that Gemfields has invested over US $ 25 million in the rehabilitation and expansion of the Kagem mine.
Most of the Jaipur cutters feel that the Emeralds prices which is already steep, would further go up substantially in the near future due to the high rough prices and global increase in demand of emeralds.
Above article is supplied by Gemfields and have been published with no editing.