Review and Preview

2010 was a good year for the gem and jewellery industry.

Many people still take their savings to the jeweller rather than to the bank. We can only speculate about the reasons. Low interest rates surely play a role and perhaps banks still struggle with the loss of confidence caused by the crises of 2008 and 2009 (keyword bailout).

Fact is that in times of cirisis we tend to invest more into hard assets, like real estate, gold and gemstones. And, frankly, despite signs of renewed growth, news are not as good as we hoped for them to be a year ago.

Be that as it may, the previous year was, as already mentioned above, a good one.
There were, however, some shifts compared to 2009. The trend towards pavée settings seems to be fading and purple and violet stones were not so much sought after.

Demand for fine rubies increased. Unfortunately it gets increasingly difficult to find truly good quality on the market. In Burma mines close down by the dozen, Winza (see Winza-Ruby and Winza-Ruby Birth Of A Legend) seemingly does not produce any more and in Bangok several large ruby dealers have already closed shop or moved to other gemstones.

Tanzanite enjoys increasing popularity. On the one hand this is due to the fact that prices are down to a level of twenty years ago and on the other hand to the enormous potential for a price hike attested to this gemstone by many observers. See also Tanzanite-rally? and Coloured Gem Investments.

In general sales in the medium price range have increased significantly. Sales in the upper range have stayed more or less the same.

We expect 2011 to be another good year for the industry. Demand for fine quality Ruby as well as for Tanzanite should stay strong.

As far as the trend colours are concerned, there seems to be some disagreement amongst the gurus of fashion. Vogue says black will be the in-colour. Others put their money on blue and turquoise and some forecast a mix of colours as divers as blue, pink, mint green, orange, lilac and purple.

If sales at the big gem and jewellery fairs can be taken as a barometer, emerald could be the up and coming gem of 2011.

Well, we shall see...