Great rise in Colombian emerald prices
These days it has become common to hear among the emerald guild the phrase: the emerald is very expensive or very difficult to achieve. This recent rise in prices and the scarcity of the world's most famous emerald, the Colombian one, has an explanation and dates back to 2020.
Without going further, the cost per carat of the national emerald increased by 40%, being inversely proportional to its export, which fell by 63.2% by February 2023, according to data from the National Mining Agency (ANM).
Therefore, in order to clear some doubts we will tell you the main causes of this rise and scarcity. In addition, we will focus on some additional aspects in case you are thinking about investing in Colombian emeralds.
Causes and prices
The price of the Colombian emerald would be experiencing a sharp rise in its price due to high demand in the face of little supply, these are the main causes of the shortage and price rise:
- Environmental Licenses
One of the main reasons for this shortage would be strong government environmental regulation, which makes the production and export of emeralds difficult in the country. This is, as several miners claim that there are many paralyzed emerald cuts, as the Government has intensified the requirements for granting them, and this has impacted the supply of emeralds in trade.
Regarding the issue of government permits and tenders that allow these explorations, the president of the Federation said that although it is true that they are complicated in their process, the industry needs an external factor that dynamizes productions beyond these licenses.
- Panandemia
The co-vid19 pandemic greatly affected the market, as the emeralds were a luxury item, many investors stopped buying during this time. In addition, many of the miners and even investors had a cessation of activities during total isolation, so the extraction work was affected to the point of being delayed for months.
If in itself, the work of mining and emerald extraction requires time and great effort, much more so if what was being done suffered an abrupt high while the conditions were fit.
- Cost of 30%
It should be borne in mind that Colombian emeralds, in themselves, because of their prestige and quality, have an overprice of 30% over those of the rest of the world. This implies a fairly high export cost for a growing Colombian industry after suffering significant falls.
Invest in emeralds at this time?
Investing in emeralds in times of scarcity and rises may not sound so suitable, much less if not known on this subject. Despite this, beyond investing, what we are looking for is for you to take into account some recommendations if you want to do so in a near time and you can pay the right price for this gem.
- Budget: have a fixed budget set for the purchase of one or more emeralds. Remember that it is always valid to negotiate a lower price taking into account the treatments or quality of the gem.
Also, keep in mind that if it is a lot in which you only found a value stone, you can ask the owner if it is possible to choose from that batch a single emerald, (sometimes, choosing from a specific batch a single emerald can increase the value of this gem)
- Factors that drop price: remember that regardless of color, shape or weight, there are characteristics that discount value to the emerald stone. Treatments, if this emerald is natural or synthetic and even your country of origin, will be factors to take into account in the final price.
- Certificate: Whatever the place or person, ask to be certified the emerald. Under no circumstances can they deny you this document. You'd better not close the business without you being given this certificate.
- Commission : In some cases, the commissioners who sell you an emerald ask for a certain percentage of profits to be obtained and/or have the stone you need, so ask to be clarified if this value will be charged to you, whether it is included in the final value and how much it is.
- Value for money: you may find the right emerald, but the price does not go according to the emerald you will get. Whether it's because this is much more expensive than it looks or because it's very cheap, it's worth asking why the price and whether you have any treatment or detail that gives you this value.
Paula A. Bonilla
Social communicator and journalist from Sergio Arboleda University in Colombia. She is also a jeweler and is passionate about constantly learning about precious gems and national high jewelry.
Currently, she is working for one of Bogotá's most important jewelry stores, Emerald by Love. This jewelry store has over 40 years of experience and has 2 physical branches in the capital city of Colombia, located in the city center.
