BEIJING, The surge of jewelry market in China can bring opportunities for Pakistani gem traders and many jewellery brands can come over to China to take advantage of the increasing jewellery business, said Aqeel Ahmed, a Pakistan jewellery retailer who has been in China for more than 20 years.
In 2019, the jewellery market of China was around RMB 610 billion. In 2020, the consumer market went down due to the COVID-19. However, from January to March this year, there is a 35 % increase in the jewellery market as compared to 2019.
“I hope that many Pakistan jewellery brands can come over to China,” Aqeel Ahmed said in an interview.
“My family used to be a gem supplier. After mining, we sort out, cut, polish and sell to brands all over the world. It’s not easy to come into retail, and the brand set is a marathon.”
After working on product R&D (research and development) for four years and participating in around 200 marketing exhibitions and consumer understanding events in the past 10 years, Aqeel opened his first retail store in Shanghai last year and his business is going very well, according to CEN on Tuesday.
“Because we are small, we are moving very fast. Our sales during the first week this year increased by 200% compared with 2019. We believe that in the next 5 years, we will open about 30 stores in China. We are very positive about it,” he said.
“Pakistan is a land of gems, we have a lot of gems in various colours. Pakistan has the mining of 6% emerald of the whole world. The colour of Pakistan emeralds is very deep green, which can only be found in Pakistan,” he said.
According to Aqeel Ahmed, the top quality emeralds of rich green colour, zero cracks and 100% clean were very rare. “1 karat of high-quality emerald comes out of 20,000 karats of commercial-quality emerald. A 2 karat stone is worth $12,000 per karat in the international market.”
He said,”Under the second phase of the China-Pakistan FTA (Free Trade Agreement) , rough stones have zero duty when we import from Pakistan to China. There is a very good taxation policy between Pakistan and China. In the future, more Pakistani companies can come to the retail or even B2B market in China.”
Aqeel also suggested that Chinese retailers explore the Pakistan market. “It can be done bilaterally. People with expertise joining the market can make a good name for the jewellery traders of the country.”
Except for gem trade collaboration, Aqeel believes that gem mining can also be a cooperation field for Pakistan and China to explore. “The history of Pakistan in gem mining started in 1958. New mines need to be explored.”
“Pakistani companies that have expertise in mining also can come to China for gemstone mining. There are a lot of areas that need to be explored in China, such like Yunnan and Xinjiang,” Aqeel added.
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