BIG JAPANESE EXPORT OF CULTURED PEARLS

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28888, 7 May 1959, Page 16

BIG JAPANESE EXPORT OF CULTURED PEARLS

“The Press" Special Service

WELLINGTON, May 6,

The world’s biggest cultured pearl business, Mikimoto, Ltd., of Japan, was planning an extension of its business to Australian waters, and was already well established in the Philippines, said the company’s export manager (Mr Teizo Hagiwara) in Wellington. In combination with nationals from both Australia and the Philippines, Mikimoto, Ltd., hoped for a great increase in the production of cultured pearls. Japanese technicians would be used to seed the pearls with a secret process known only in Japan, said Mr Hagiwara. The company had high hopes of its foreign partnerships. The best pearls and the biggest grew fastest in tropical waters. The Australian side of the joint venture was at present carrying out trials with pearl oysters in the Crab Islands off the coast of Australia. i The Japanese industry provides a livelihood for 100,000 people

with an output ol 38 tons of pearl, a year, and is worth 18 million United States dollars to Japan's foreign trade. In New Zealand to promote the sale ot cultured pearls here and to carry out market research, Mr Hagiwara saw little future for a New Zealand industry. The Japanese pearls were a commercial success only because of their low price, about two United State, dollars for the average pearl. Patient Labour A great amount of skilled, patient labour was necessary to produce the pearls, and the low price was only possible because the wages for a girl technician averaged between £5 and £6 per month, he said. The pearls were all exported, and none was sold in Japan. Taken from a seven-year-old oyster, a pearl of the biggest size produced in Japan might be worth 300 to 400 dollars. Of 100 pearls, five were pink, 20 "white-pink or white, 30 cream, and the rest yellow, said Mr Hagiwara. There were also occasional blue pearls, but the highest prices were paid for pink, the rarest. The United States, Japan’s biggest customer, took up to 60 per cent, of the production, mostly in the large white or pink pearls. Europeans preferred smaller better pearls in cream pink, or pink, Brazil yellow or gold yellow and New Zealand, “our smallest market,” pink or cream pink. Odd Shapes

Maroque, or oddly shaped pearls, were preferred by Italians equally with perfectly round pearls, said Mr Hagiwara. Americans insisted on perfect roundness and size.

‘‘Our most particular customers are the Swiss and the Germans, who want the best quality, even if the pink is more expensive,’’ he said.

New Zealand, which before import licensing took 10,000 dollars worth of pearls a year, last year dropped to 7000 dollars. “In Australia we are doing a lot of business, expanding year by year,” said Mr Hagiwara. “In New Zealand we have a lot of difficulty with import licensing, and the population is small." An even smaller market, it appeared, was Japan. “In Japan, our pearls are for export only,” said Mr Hagiwara. “We are a poor country.”