Hunting for pearls in Vietnam
Big money has been poured into pearl projects in Vietnam, which has a long coastline of 3,600 kilometers, but profits have sometimes been unsatisfactory.
Though Vietnam cannot compare with the other pearl metropolises in the world like Indonesia, which exported US$29 million worth of pearl products in 2014, or Australia, the Philippines, Myanmar and China in terms of quantity and the diversification of products, it is still an attractive destination for many foreign investors.
Though pearl farming appeared in Vietnam in 1960s, only in 1980s did Vietnam become the destination point for foreign pearl experts. The experts, from France, Australia, Japan and China, flocked to Phu Quoc Island in Kien Giang province, Co To Island in Quang Ninh, Con Dao Island and Dam Mon Peninsula in Khanh Hoa to seek their opportunities.
A lot of pearl companies with purely Vietnamese names were set up, including Phu Quoc Viet Nam Pearl Company Ltd, Vietnam Pearl Company and Sai Gon Pearl Company. However, they were backed by foreign owners.
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Japan, Hong Kong, Australia and the Republic of Korea, Switzerland, India and France, New Zealand and Thailand were the markets which consumed Vietnam’s pearl.
However, the global economic crisis in 2008, which resulted in the sharp fall in demand for luxury products, seriously affected pearl farmers. Many investors had to leave Vietnam.
In fact, according to Ho Thanh Tuan, CEO of Hoang Gia, the global economic crisis was not the only reason behind the investors’ leave. In many cases, the investors sold their workshops and left just because they could not exploit natural pearl in Vietnam anymore.
The investors came to Vietnam not to cultivate pearl, but to exploit natural pearl, and they left because they saw the natural resource was getting exhausted.
However, when foreign investors left, Vietnamese investors jumped on the bandwagon.
Apart from Vietnam Pearl Company Ltd, which is Japanese invested, the other big names such as Hoang Gia Pearl, Ngoc Hien Pearl and Ha Long Pearl are Vietnamese privately run businesses in the coastal areas of Kien Giang, Ben Tre and some northern provinces.
To date, Vietnam’s pearl industry is still in the very early stage of development, though the Ministry of Finance stipulates in the Decision No 1380 released in 2011 that pearl is one of the products subject to import restriction because it can be made domestically.
However, experts are optimistic about the future of Vietnam’s pearl industry.
There are two kinds of pearl now available in the market – freshwater and saltwater pearl. The latter is always more expensive than the former. Meanwhile, Vietnam has advantages in saltwater cultivation.
On Phu Quoc Island, jewelry made of pearl are sold for VND1-10 million per product.
