Gems and jewellery exports from Thailand to different countries have been witnessing a smart growth during the past few years and their aggregate exports touched 10,000 million bahts in 2005.
This was stated by Ms Kosol Premrudee, Assistant General Manager of Gems Gallery, in Phuket--one of the world's biggest and ISO 9002 certified jewellery stores--, in an exclusive talk with Business Recorder here on Sunday.
"We mainly export real jewellery, imitation jewellery, gems and gems jewellery, and synthetic precious stones to many countries including USA, UK, Japan, Australia, Italy, Canada, France, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Indonesia, Switzerland, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, India, Israel, Hong Kong and United Arab Emirates (UAE)," she said.
She said that the far-flung areas near the borders of Thailand have large reserves of precious stones.
"Thailand's specialty is in rubies and sapphires, and our land is blessed with natural resources of these precious stones," she said, and added that from these mines come precious stones, which are recognised internationally for their quality. And, from the crystal clear water of the sea in the south of Thailand come beautiful pearls."
Premrudee said that the beauty of Thai jewellery and gemstones is quite well known the world over. "The quality of the precious stones, the design, cutting and polishing skills of Thai artisans, all these combine to give rise to world class jewellery and gems."
The gems and jewellery stores in Phuket have precious stones for all strata of society and all occasions where the prices of jewellery sets, rings, earrings etc range from 400 bahts (minimum) to 5 million bahts.
Premrudee said that ruby is obtained from Chantabury, which is 300 km away from Bangkok.
She said that sapphire is found nea Kanchanbury, which is 150 km away from Bangkok.
"The labourers dig these from mountains and strain marsh to get the precious stones and, once they get them, they deliver these to the gems and precious stones factories where the stones are processed and polished," she added.
She said that some 200,000 people earn their livelihood from the gems and jewellery sector in Thailand, while some 2,000 small factories all over the country treat thousands of stones every month.
Premrudee said that some 800 tourists visit the gems and jewellery factory in Phuket every day, while the number of tourists increases to some 1200 every day during the peak season from November to February.