I’ve been meaning to do a sort of ‘market update’ for a while.
This is me: https://skyjems.ca/
I do both wholesale and retail, up until COVID I was about 2/3 Wholesale 1/3 Retail.
I have had to ‘pivot’ to do more retail and more custom jewellery.
It’s my opinion that the overall wholesale market will be very soft for most/all of 2021 with the exception of high quality stones.
Fine quality stones are doing well and are increasing in price at an almost alarming rate, for example, fine quality sapphire & emerald that was selling around $1500 to $2000ct USD in Sri Lanka, Colombia and India is now trading at 50%-100% more, roughly $2000-$4000
‘special colours’ of sapphires are up in value, Padparadsha, Fine Blues and Fine/Trade Ideal Teals.
The market for commercial quality merchandise is dead, the market for most semi-precious is DEAD DEAD DEAD!!! I won’t even tell you the prices I have had quartzes, topaz, Kunzite and lower/commercial quality Aqua/Tourmaline/Heliodor etc offered to me at. Basically, if it’s not worth setting in gold, it’s not selling right now.
I believe this is because people who had money to buy $20k+++ pieces still have money, but nowhere to spend it. The drop in commercial quality is almost certainly due to the massive hit that ‘the average person’ has taken.
Jewellery sales were down 57% on black friday in the USA, I’ve heard people say ‘but’ and put an asterisk beside it, but even if the true number is only a 40% decline, it’s still a MASSIVE number.
Good luck all, there is still money out there, our job is to find it!