The future isnt sparkling for the jewellery industry
It seems even the jewellers are suffering due to the recession, which sales of gemstone jewellery and jewellery in general are down.
Countries which export the stones used for jewellery are seeing a sharp decline in demand, and the companies from there are being hit harder than producers of other, more essential goods. The larger Jewellery retail companies, Bulgari and Tiffanis are sales and demand from the US and Europe, which are the bigger markets drop by 80 percent in december, and most retailers are worried about surviving, rather than making a profit. Many jewellers say that November and December are responsible for forty percent of their yearly takings, and saw a huge decrease in the number of people buying across the range of jewellery available. This saw January sales taking place before Christmas, rather than after and prices slashed even more than usual for jewellers to try and make the sale. Even the famed ‘girls best friend’ the diamond, is suffering in the market -as its demand and price has dropped -so now may be the time to buy ladies, but it is still faring much better than coloured gemstones- so don’t expect too much of a drop in price.
In order to deal with their surplus gemstones India have opened their first ‘heat treatment’ centre, to deal with rose quartz, rubies and other gemstones. Heat treatment is a process where the very extreme heating and cooling methods are used to change the pyshical or chemical process with metals/stones, usually to harden to soften the material. Up until now the work was usually done sent to other countries where the work could be done, such as Thailand, Japan and Germany, but now India will be able to compete with them and use this to train more professionals in the process.
So the recession has hit, and now the jewellers are going to have to do something to survive in the long run or face bankruptcy – a grim prospect for anyone.
Tags: Brooches, Gemstone jewellery, Jewellery