KARACHI: Eyeing an export target of $5 billion, Pakistan’s gem and jewel merchants have set up the country’s first gem bazaar in the port city of Karachi.
The bazaar is to showcase precious gemstones extracted from insurgency-hit northern areas of the country as economic activity picks up after the improvement of law and order.
All Pakistan Gem Merchants and Jewelers Association (APGMJ) organised the bazaar – the first of its kind in the country – where about 35 exhibitors of precious and semi-precious stones, rough gems, mineral specimens, pearls, silver jewellery and jewellery designers showed their products. The exporters, retailers and merchants of gemstones participating in the exhibition mostly hailed from northern areas of the country including Gilgit-Baltistan, Swat and Peshawar.
Pakistan has unmatched quality of ruby, emerald, topaz, aquamarine, fluorite and lais-lazuli which are mined from the valleys of Gilgit, Hunza, Swat, (Pakistan-administered) Kashmir and Chitral. Because gem-cutting and polishing facilities are not available, gems are exported in raw form, which is much less in value compared to their real worth. Major gem export markets include Thailand and Sri Lanka, along with western Europe, the US and East Asia.
In addition to expensive and more-in-demand gemstones such as emerald, pink topaz and ruby, Pakistan also has one of the largest deposits of other gemstone varieties, a study by State Bank of Pakistan says.
Fayyaz Ahmed, 31, a gemstone merchant from Chitral, says improvements in law and order have boosted their business which is picking up again as local and foreign tourists are now coming in large numbers. “Due to the surge in insurgency and terrorism in Northern Areas, our business had almost ceased to exist,” Ahmed told Arab News.
Like Ahmed, the participants hoped that the bazaar would help not only to recognise the potential of the sector but also increase exports from the country.
The price of the products starts at $10 per carat and rises to about $25,000, depending upon the nature of the precious stone.
“Every month the bazaar will be held twice in Karachi, and later it will be organized in other cities such as Lahore and Peshawar,” Matiullah Shaikh, chairman of the APGMJ, told Arab News. He added that Pakistan’s gem sector had the potential to increase its export share up to $5 billion, provided requisite facilities are extended to the stakeholders.
