If the pandemic in 2020 affected foreign sales of Colombian emeralds, the other side of the coin is 2021, the year in which gem exports marked a record in its commercialization in the world markets.
(179 imported products would reduce their tariffs).
Thus, thanks to international stone prices in various corners of the globe, which recorded a rise above 35%allowed exports of national emeralds to triple in the last year.
The Dane’s records indicate that in 2021 more than US$129 million in gems were sold abroada figure that is three times more than that reported in the immediately previous year, which was only US$42 million.
Although 2020 was an atypical year for the commercialization of emeralds abroad due to the closure of international skies derived from covid-19, the sales figure for 2021 represented a growth greater than 300%.
(Commerce and other sectors that marked the GDP in 2021).
The percentage is striking when compared to the last record of reported increase (2018 to 2019) which was 6.8%. Likewise, the rise in the price of gems in international markets represented Colombia new buyers.
In this regard, Dane records indicate that 10 countries acquired the national emeralds gross in 2021, with revenues of US$20 million. In the same sense, 26 nations bought worked gems from the country and left more than US$109 million.
In comparison, Colombia in 2019 sold rough gems to eight countries and worked gems to 24, and in 2020 the figure was nine nations to which rough stones were sold and 20 worked ones.
(The trade balance registers a deficit for the eighth year in a row).
“Colombia is the largest producer of high quality emeralds in the world. Thanks to its hydrothermal sedimentary origin, it provides unique characteristics such as brightness, transparency, color, play of light and optimal hardness, which make them the most desired in the markets of the United States, Europe and Asia.”, pointed out Oscar Baquero, president of Fedesmeraldas.
The income from the sale of gems in international markets allowed the emerald projects in the country optimize operating costswhich helped them increase production.
Although there are no consolidated records of emerald production in 2021, technicians from the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) estimate that the extraction volume would be around 1.7 million carats, a figure higher than that of 2020, which was 1 .5 million carats in 2020 and 0.5 million carats in 2019.
“The growing demand for luxury products at a global level that has come hand in hand with the reopening of economies (such as the issue of jewelry), has allowed the emerald sector to go through a good time in the last year, which is being driven by high levels of consumption, where auctions of these stones have once again been seen and where the appetite for them has resurfaced in Asian countries,” explained Nicolás Arboleda, leader of the mining and metals area at Baker McKenzie.
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