CRI听力:Annual Myanmar Gems Emporium Attracts More Traders

Myanmar jade has been highly valued by Chinese people since the Qing Dynasty.

Over ninety percent of Myanmar's rough jade stones are exported to China.

Since its launch in 1964, the annual Myanmar Gems Emporium has been attractive to hundreds of Chinese merchants.

But in the past couple of years, the zeal of Chinese merchants seems to have subsided after market prices hit record highs three years ago.

"I think the Chinese market is very quiet because they've already had a lot of supplies on their local market."

Dr. Aung Kyaw Win is Vice Chairman of Myanmar's Gems & Jewelry Entrepreneurs Association Yangon Region.

"No. 2, the global economy is going down. No 3, the Chinese government is also fighting corruption. So, the demand from the Chinese market is also going down."

Jade accounts for the majority of the trade volume at the Gems Emporium.

Last year, the proceeds of the trade fair stood at around 530 million Euros, or 590 million US dollars, down ten percent from 2015, when sales were already one-third down

from the year before when the emporium netted record-breaking 3.4 billion dollars.

But the situation may have begun to change as Li Wenguo, a new comer to the event, observes.

"Though it's my first time here, I've learnt that merchants from Guangdong's Jieyang charted ten flights for this emporium, while last year the number was three. And that's just the number from one city. I think the prices have already hit the bottom on the jade market. Things cannot go worse than early this year. I think the market will gradually pick up."

Nearly five thousand traders from Myanmar and abroad have registered as qualified bidders, 40 percent more than last year. More than half of them are from China, up at least 20 percent year-on-year.

Over six thousand lots of jades and over three hundred lots of gems are up for sale through a tender system, in which the sealed bids are opened in public, with the highest bidder winning.

The emporium runs until next Friday.

For CRI, I'm Tu Yun reporting from Nay Pyi Taw.