The Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) yesterday tied up with the Australiabased Arrow Pearls Company, while announcing the launch of an integrated pearl centre in Dubai in order to tap the $1 billion (Dh3.67bn) annual global pearl trade.
Termed "Pearls of Dubai", the centre will include a pearl farm, interpretative concept and a shop, showcasing a new brand of Dubai pearls that will be produced at a pearl farm located off the Dubai coast.
The move comes with DMCC initiating talks with two of the biggest pearl producers in the world, Mikimoto of Japan and Paspaley from Australia, for participating in the recently established Dubai Pearl Exchange, said DMCC's top executive.
"They are all very keen to have some participation in the Dubai Pearl Exchange. And we are also exploring the possible synergies we could have with big players for the exchange," Ahmed bin Sulayem, COO of DMCC, told Emirates Today.
"While there are only a handful of big pearl players in the world, we are talking to almost all significant players. We are conducting studies to find out what other aspects of the pearl trade we can bring to Dubai," The DMCC COO said.
Sulayem further said even China is getting in to the pearl market in a big way.
Meanwhile, Arrow and the DMCC will farm pearls off the Dubai's coast and sell them as branded "Pearls of Dubai", they said in a joint statement yesterday.
The state-run pearl trading hub will offer grading servic es in partnership with the Pearl Laboratory in Bahrain.
"In the past, pearling was the backbone of the region's economy, and we are glad to participate in the tradition's revival," said Stephen Arrow, an official at Arrow Pearls.
In the global rough pearl industry, however, according to Sulayem, what would sell in Dubai is "big size" and "special colour" pearls.
"It is the big size pearls that have a higher value and not the smaller ones.
"The smaller ones are competitive in prices.
"The pearl trade, once it kicks into Dubai, would compliment the gold and diamond sales in the country," he said.
Pearl wave in the Middle East
Further pointing to other Middle East countries, DMCC's COO, Sulayem, said that in countries like Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, pearl is the "flavour of the month". "They are all working towards bringing the pearl trade back into the region. That is also one of the reasons why we announced the launch of Dubai Pearl Exchange - in order to have the first strike in this industry. But there is more to it than just that," he said.
Retail prospects
When asked about the retail prospects for pearl in Dubai, Sulayem said he is not hopeful about the pearl retail trade spreading like gold retail.
"I do not think that the pearl retail trade in Dubai would spread out like the gold retail trade but we are hoping to bring in more of pearl business into Dubai. And for that we are going to look more at the retail kind of a concept for pearls," he said, further declining to give details.
Customs duty
The DMCC is also seeking to abolish the five per cent duty on coloured stones and gems in the GCC, Sulayem recently told Emirates Today. "It cannot be done at a local or a federal level. It has to be done across the GCC. The talks are still on with the concerned authorities for the same. And we are hopeful that the duty would be abolished," he said.
By Shweta Jain
© Emirates Today 2007
