'Neo Cut 1' wins international award

by Gamini Warushamana

Bright Gems International (Pvt) Ltd, one of the leading exporters of cut gems, secured third place at the international gem-cutting and jewellery design competition at the Hong Kong Jewellery and Gem Fair.

A pink sapphire 'Neo Cut 1' presented by the company won an award and all four stones presented by the company Neo Cut 1-4 were selected for the final competition.

The competition brought in 221 entries from 25 countries and regions, including Argentina, Canada, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, the Philippines, Poland, the United States and Hong Kong.

At the June Hong Kong Jewellery and Gem Fair, a panel of industry experts chose four designs in each of the competition's two categories: jewellery design and gem-cutting. The first and second places of gem designing was secured by the Russian Federation.

Chairman of Bright Gems, M.C.M. Nawaz said that it was a great opportunity to prove Sri Lankan's capability in creating wonders. “We buy rough stones, add value by cutting and designing and export them to the US, Europe, Australia and Asian countries such as China.”

“There is a growing demand in China for all kinds of sapphires. Sri Lanka has a unique opportunity in this segment of the market but value addition in gems is not at a satisfactory level,” he said.

Nawaz uses 20-30 year--old machinery. He said that small players such as Bright Gems cannot afford modern technology and machinery as they are expensive. The industry needs government support such as tax relief.

“The Export Development Board (EDB) earlier sponsored exporters to participate at international trade fairs and exhibitions but now we have to bear all the costs and have to pay customs duty for display items we brought,” he said.

“Banks too are not supportive when we need short term credit facilities,” Nawaz said.

“I have been in this business for over 34 years and according to my experience Sri Lanka can make its own international brand name in the industry as a main supplier and 'Neo Cut' is our own brand.”There are a large number of people dependent on the gem industry and the recent practise of using heavy machinery for large scale mining has created a lot of environment issues, he said.

No doubt when the final numbers are tallied there would have been more buyers at this year's show than last year. After the first two days, show organisers, UBM Asia reported that the number of buyers increased by eight percent.

What this most recent fair showed is that Asia's dominance in the worldwide jewellery industry has been established and should be secure for some time. Not because of spectacular growth of the past few years, but because of the resilience of the industry and the region at a time when growth has slowed.

“At the show this year, we learned that despite the slowdown in the Chinese economy and the decline of spending among the wealthy, jewellery sales were buoyed by the rising middle class in China and the increase of wealth among consumers in South East Asia,” Nawaz said.“This growth in new markets also helped to make up for the decline of consumer spending in the US and Europe. Hopefully, there will be a turnaround in the economic problems in these vitally important markets”, he said.