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| July/August 2006 |
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| Tahitian Pearl Exports Up in First Half The government of French Polynesia reported that cultured black pearl exports for the first half of 2006 rose 6.5 percent compared with the same period in 2005. The overall export value was 6.7 billion French Pacific francs (US$69.6 billion), compared with 6.3 billion francs ($68 million) in 2005. Of that, by far the largest category was loose cultured pearls, with a 2006 value of 5.7 billion francs (US $58.8 million). In the mid- to late 1990s, Tahitian black pearl exports rose dramatically as more and more small-scale farmers entered the trade. A flood of lower-quality pearls brought international prices for black pearls down, creating a crisis of confidence in the trade. Since the beginning of this decade, trade and government in French Polynesia have been working to limit black pearl exports. By 2002, the downward price trend had reversed, and prices for loose pearls continue to climb. In the first half of 2006, the volume of loose pearls exported rose less than 3 percent to 3.88 tons, while the value of those pearls grew 7.7 percent. That puts the average price per gram at 1,466 francs ($15.16), a significant increase from $9.50 per gram in 2002. Japan remained French Polynesia’s major market for black pearls, importing approximately 2 tons of loose pearls in the first half of 2006 — a slight drop from 2005’s 2.14 tons. The value of black pearl imports for the first half of 2006 was 2.8 billion francs ($28.6 billion). Hong Kong, on the other hand, imported 1.5 tons of black pearls, up 33 percent from the same period in 2005. The value of their black pearl imports also shot up to 2.43 billion francs ($25.1 million), a 48 percent growth. The United States remained the number-three market for Tahitian black pearls, bringing in 177.4 kilograms of pearls valued at 254.4 million francs ($2.63 million).
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