Who are the biggest emerald buyers?

Every day hundreds of Colombian emerald buyers visit the renowned emerald area in the center of Bogotá or the deposits of these gems to acquire this precious stone.

Customers in search of emeralds range from commissioners or emeralds who place their own orders, to foreigners who travel long distances to find the quality and perfection of Colombian natural emeralds.

The global emerald market is so large that it is difficult to define a single type of green gem buyer. However, according to a recent study by Fedesmeraldas, these are the largest buyers of green gems in the country.

How to Buy Emeralds

To talk about the main emerald buyers, we consider it necessary to first establish some recommendations to acquire an emerald, to this end several aspects must be taken into account:

• 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. From treatments, if this emerald is natural or synthetic and even their country of origin, they 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 get 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 percentage 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.

Larger buyers of Colombian emeralds

Now, once you know the factors that need to be taken into account in becoming an emerald buyer, we can talk about the main customers of these gems, among them are:

• Commissioners: emerald commissioners (name that comes from the word commissioner, since most of them receive profit from sales) are men and women who are in charge of selling or reselling lots or units of Colombian natural emeralds.

To carry out this work you must travel the largest number of jewelry or laboratories of these gems to find the right emerald. The job of the commissioners is to negotiate the prices of the gems between the same commissioners or other clients and to be able to buy or sell the gems that are needed according to the orders that are made.

• Emeralds: the emeralds, unlike the commissioners, own the emeralds that are sold or will be bought. They represent the second step of emerald buyers as in some cases they allocate commissioners for the sale of their stones and are not the ones who acquire them directly.
• Foreigners: Defining the percentage of tourists who travel day by day to Colombia exclusively to acquiring Colombian emeralds is uncertain, as many of them seek to buy emeralds mounted in jewelry and even seek no more than simple tourism.

However, according to the Colombian Federation of Emeralds, by 2021 some nationalities were established for those who buy or destinations to which large quantities of Colombian emeralds are exported, among them are:

• Asians: the purchase of emeralds predominates in countries such as China, India and Thailand. In China, 80% of Colombian emeralds are bought, some of these gems end up in cities such as Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai.

As for India and Thailand, these account for only 6% of Colombian natural emerald purchases.

• Americans: Another of the destinations and nationalities in search of Colombian emeralds is the United States, which takes 8% of the country's green gem sales.
• Europeans: last and although they are declining after the recent COVID 19 pandemic, European countries and nationalities acquire by 6% Colombian emeralds.

• Jewelers: Finally, those who have become one of the buyers par excellence of Colombian emeralds are jewelers and jewelry stores who are dedicated to the trade of pieces adorned with Colombian emeralds.

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.