Can someone educate me?

[lavenderjade]

What has happened with Japanese Akoya pearl farming? The pearls used to be fairly commonplace did they not? and now it seems a lot of Akoya pearls are coming from China. Are Japanese Akoya still being produced in good numbers? I am very interested in the history and what is happening now. I was after a blue round strand and found it hard to find one at any sort of reasonable price! I ended up settling for a Vietnamese semi round strand of small pearls, poor me

 

[KAC]

I think you might have some information that is out of date as most Akoya pearls on the market today of Japanese origin. There was a period in the 2000's where China was producing a lot of Akoya pearls but as of 2015 that's not the case -- the vast majority are Japanese.

As for natural blue akoya pearls they come at a premium because there isn't very many strands available. If you follow pearl guide or some of the vendors here it might seem like they are common place, but the reality is they are extremely rare, quality round ones even more so.

 

[Jacques]

I do not think it would be much different for the US.