3. TAHITIAN BLACK PEARLS: Present Market Situation

The history of black pearls goes back to a time when the native Polynesians treasured the black pearl as an emanation from the Gods. In 1840 after heavy harvesting for natural pearls, black-lipped pearl oysters became very scarce. The French government realised the fact and immediately hired biologists to study this matter. This actually triggered the start of the cultivation of black pearls. Early buyers were Asian, and initially, not only black pearls but cultured pearls in general were resisted in Western markets. (Another reason for the resistance to black pearls on the market was the bad image of Japanese dyed black pearls which had been exported to U.S.A. and Europe from 1945.) After World War II, cultured pearls were gradually accepted as the demands for pearls increased with an improved standard of living. Moreover, the availability of natural pearls gradually diminished, so prestigious stores began to handle only the best cultured pearls, because they were accepted by even the most demanding customers. More recently, the problem with the dark black pearls not suiting Western women's complexions and taste has been overcome: the soft gray colour has gradually become popular, and now there are many prestigious stores handling them as gray pearls.

In 1961, the French government, with the cooperation of the Nippo Pearls Co., (one of the leading producers of South Sea Pearls), started an experimentation study by sending Mr. Churoku Moroi. He succeeded in producing about 100 spherical pearls, but for some reason, the project was not continued. After ten years of experimentation, the pearl industry began to produce pearls steadily and by 1975, the statistics available show that from then on, Tahitian black pearls have dominated the market.

3.1 Total Production and Marketing

Black-lipped cultured pearls are now being produced in Tahiti, Cook Islands, Fiji, Marshall Islands and Japan (Table 5). However, Tahiti dominates the market by producing 95% of total production. The total production of Tahitian black pearls shows a great increase, especially in the last two years (Table 6). The reasons for this sudden development were:

1. the French government believed that it was essential to establish an industry in Tahiti besides tourism; and
2. the technique to breed oysters from spat collection made it possible to produce more oysters to be used in cultivating pearls.

The question of the extent to which Tahiti can increase its total production has been debated by specialists; some say that approximately 2,000 kan would be the peak. Authorities must always remember that after a certain number of years of use, the farm should be moved to avoid detonation of the fishery ground. If this is done, the peak of production may be greater than that mentioned above. Since the total production is already about 1,500 kan, (75% of the objective), only 500 kan or a little more would be left. This is only in the case of Tahiti and does not include other areas.

Table 7 shows exports of black pearls from Japan. Table 7 indicates that 63% of black pearls produced in Tahiti were exported to Japan. Of those imported, 24% were re-exported from Japan. The total worldwide retail business value was estimated at US$840 million (JY100,800 million) (Table 8). Table 9 shows difference between exports to Japan from Tahiti and imports to Japan from Tahiti.

3.2 Size

The size of the nucleus in most cases is from 7 mm to 8 mm, which produces pearls from 9 mm to 13 mm. Recently, like their silver-lipped counterparts, these oysters are being use for two to three cycles to produce larger pearls. Pearls of up to 20 mm in diameter have been produced.

3.3 Colour

The colour in pearls forms from an intricate mixture of three different elements:

1. Interference of light,
2. Body colour or colouring matter; and
3. Organic matrix.

Table 5. Black Pearls: Import from Japan from Producing Countries (without Half Pearls)

Table 6. 1990 – 1997 Tahiti Black Pearls Export

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