Hi All. My family is the jewelry manufacturing and retail business in Pakistan for over 5 decades and, today, are one of the largest and best reputed brands there. Given the significant potential of Pakistan’s gemstone resources, we are now starting a gemstone cutting and export business. We have started sourcing and cutting rough on a test scale. We are also in the process of setting up a modern lapidary.
On the side, we are also lobbying the government to pay some attention to the industry. Pakistan has large reserves of several varieties of gemstones, such as Emeralds, Corundum, Peridot, Tourmaline, Aquamarine, etc. Currently, only 5% of the resources are mined, albeit very poorly. Most of the rough is then smuggled out. There is a dire need for organized mining, modern lapidaries and promoting cut stone exports.
I would like to hear of your expert opinions/advice here. How is the international market for Pakistan gemstones. Who could be the potential large buyers. What stone and sizes should we initially focus on, etc.
Pakistani Emeralds have lots of potentials, Can be easily sold in Sri Lanka & Bangkok for cash, Buyers from Europe, American & China visits these markets almost every day
Adeeb,
Pakistani stones are quite nice and are under valued in the market today. They are not being marketed enough in the states for sure. I have some nice cut and uncut stones that are quite nice and I would put them up against any from many locations around the world and I know they will hold their own. I hate to say that I did get a wonderful price on these stones from the dealer directly from Pakistan thanks to my nephew becoming close friends of the family of the dealer. They say that the US military gets screwed by the locals in these deals but I think I’m safe on this one since he married into the family. There are many dealers here in the states that would love to handle more of these stones since the quality is so high but the mining of the emeralds is a bit heavy handed and tend to have them come out of the ground smaller than most would like. I understand that the location of the mines makes it hard for getting the proper equipment for extracting the stones out in better condition not all that easy. These emeralds do compair if not rival the best Colombian emeralds.
I’m looking forward to seeing more come out of Pakistan in the near future.
All the very best.
Otter
Thanks so much for your positive and valuable comments. Yes, I agree, Pakistani gemstones are not properly marketed neither in the USA nor anywhere else. Further, their supply is also constrained and irregular. Hence, they are undervalued. Very few of the potential sources are being mined; mining is disorganized and poor; supply chain is inefficient; most rough is smuggled informally to Thailand, India and Sri Lanka; very little is cut locally and then sold internationally as Pakistani origin.
Good quality emeralds are indeed comparable to any other top quality emerald in the world. There is corundum as well, which at times yields some good quality rubies and sapphires – but most corundum have a purple hue. There are several other noteworthy stones.
We are now regularly cutting rough – mainly emeralds and corundum, and looking to export the same. Once we have our sales organized we can further streamline our sourcing and processing to increase supply. Kindly do let me know if you can help in any way.