Sri Lanka established as fine quality gem, jewellery exporter

Focus on niche markets vital

Sanjeevi Jayasuriya

Sri Lanka needs to focus on niche markets by exporting fine quality stones as mass marketing is a challenge to the country. The country has established itself as a country exporting exquisite fine quality gems and jewellery and it is important to capitalize on this, Acting Deputy Director General National Gem and Jewellery Authority Ajith Perera said.

“The country recorded the highest ever export value in the year 2008. It was Rs. 57.82 billion as against the 2007 figure of Rs. 51.88 billion. The recorded increase was 11 percent”, he said.

However, the total exports for the first half of 2009 recorded a 29 percent overall drop compared to the corresponding period. The 2009 first six months figure was Rs. 18.63 billion whereas it was 26.26 billion in 2008. The negative variance is mainly due to the economic downturn, he said.

“The significant factor is that we were able to arrest the decline and also the gap is narrowing. There will be a 10 percent negative variance by the end of the year as a steady growth is expected to continue”, he said.

“We have to face stiff competition from markets such as China and Thailand. It is necessary to concentrate on markets such as Russia, India, the Middle East, Oman and Qatar and to expand our promotional programs.

Sri Lanka will participate in four leading gem and jewellery shows to be held in China, Hong Kong and India, he said.

“We are moving away from traditional markets and looking at other alternative markets. This is because our main buyer the USA which accounts for 39 percent export volume was hit by the economic downturn”, he said.

At present we are having serious discussions with Russia and a breakthrough is possible. Russia wanted us to prepare a set of master stones consisting 350 pieces of Sapphire and 150 pieces of Ruby.

We have indicated that we will prepare this and it will be a launching pad to have better exchange of goods to Russia as there are barriers to overcome at present”, he said. “We are keenly looking at the Chinese market.

Our dealers have good interaction among the Chinese buyers to promote our products and a delegation visits them once every two months. There are seven annual international shows in China and we hope to enter at least five of them”, he said.

“It is important to identify leading international shows and promote specialized products such as precision cut gem stones, specially sapphire in the colours of blue, pink, white and yellow. These gems are used by the watch industry as it has become a fashion to have gem studded watches. Sri Lanka exports precision cut stones to leading designer houses such as Rolex, Mont Blanc, Cartier and Bulgari.

We hope to expand our promotional campaign to capture new markets”, he said.