China Pearl

For thousands of years, pearls have been worn by people the world over as decoration and as a manifestation of their wealth and power. They are the oldest jewel known to man, and the only gem made by a living animal. Starting from the early 1900s, pearls have been produced through the process of cultivation, which brought their prices down and made them accessible to more consumers.

In 1968, China took the gem world by surprise by flooding the market with huge amounts of very inexpensive cultured pearls. However, the quality of this initial wave of Chinese pearls left something to desire. Since the 1990s, China has developed new high-quality pearl products which experts say have revolutionized the entire industry.

Success in the pearling industry stems from skillfully combining different pearl species, as well as from continued development of farming methods and pearl products. The types of pearls available range from inexpensive freshwater pearls to highly desirable South Sea Pearls.

The pearl industry is subject to many factors that can either make or break a business. As with most aquaculture, pearl farms are greatly impacted by weather conditions and diseases, among others. Another challenge is the fact that this industry, which centers on farming oysters, caters to the luxury jewelery market instead of the food market: a distinction that many countries have long attempted to underline through legislative measures.