The first auction results from Japan report good news for akoya producers. Hama-age prices are finally on the rise. Whilst these results are a bit early to predict the trend in prices through the Winter and later auctions, it seems a clear indication that the price slide has come to an end.
First rank production is reportedly up nearly 10%, followed by second rank up nearly 30%, and commercial third rank up an astonishing 50%.
The results are certain to be well-received by the dwindling number of akoya producers now accustomed to operating at a loss.
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This could be a much happier year!
Here's a sprinkling of Pearl Fairy Dust!
Have a wonderful 2010 all you have contributed to TPP's blog and for all those funny comments! I will enjoy watching this blog again next year!
Wake up, guys and gals, the light in the tunnel is getting bright, it's high time to put on your sunglasses! For sure, 2009 will go down as the "annus horribilis" for the pearling industry. We'll soon be looking back and say "remember 2009, when prices of Akoya, Tahitians and White SSPs were so low"! Put another stack of chips on number 2010, sure bet! Missed buying the dollar at 50 cents? Well, it's 65 cents now... Hurry up, place your bets, then fasten your seat-belts, lean back, enjoy the ride, cheer up and while you wait for your number to come up, be optimistic, keep smiling, and take another sip! Cheers! Happy New Year to all of you!
Observer, it's a good idea to be optimistic, but reality should also be observed. You must not be observing in the US, which is the biggest pearl market in the world, right? Foreclosures, bankruptcies, unemployment, and savings are up here, while the middle class is down and shrinking. The American economy has been driven by a prosperous middle class with money to spend. Our huge middle class was created by a manufacturing economy that paid high wages. In the past 20 years or so, we outsourced the manufacturing economy. The dot com, boom, the credit card debt-fueled boom, the service economy boom, and the real estate boom were attempts to paper over the loss of manufacturing jobs and to pretend we could still be consumption gluttons. We now know all that was a house of cards. It has collapsed. The American economy will not achieve its former steamroller character unless and until we create a new, green manufacturing economy. Cheap oil used to be the foundation that supported the entire structure. Obviously, that's gone and it's not coming back. If the pearl industry continues to be dependent on Americans buying tons of pearls, it won't fully recover until the US economy fully recovers.
ADJUST, DON'T ADJOURN.
Buck Nacre, you're spot on, couldn't agree more with you! America is down and out, at least for some time to come. In order to survive, we can't count on the US market any longer (at least for the time being). But other markets are kicking and I am fortunate to be Japan-based. Be aware that life goes in chapters. The Lehman shock temporarily closed the US chapter for our industry. We entered a new chapter. Damn, we had now 15 months to adjust. And adjust we did. New prices, new markets, new customer segments, specialty products, quick rotation, better margins, you name it. We have learned not to be dependent on US dealers who sit on their old and overpriced inventories like geese sitting on their rotten eggs. Asian markets, as well as European markets reacted much quicker. We learned from the three McDonald principals which are: 1/Location, 2/Location, 3/Location. We follow the principals of 1/Rotation, 2/Rotation, 3/Rotation, which saved our lower back-side. After a tough year, during which we got rid of obsolete inventories (with a blue eye), we are now back with up-dated inventories, new prices, quick rotation and black figures. We here in Kobe are in pole position. Try us! You'll like it! My message to the US dealers is loud and clear: wake up, be optimistic, we have entered a new chapter! Forget the past. Adjust, don't adjourn!
Market diversification is a good thing. What's happening in the US is a lot more than "the Lehman shock," and recovery will take years. It has to be a reset rather than a reboot.
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