Fair Trade Pearls

[Owen Henderson]

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to share a recent event occurring in Lombok island related to Fair Trade pearls. A wealthy pearl trader from India, who I have met on several occasions at international pearl auctions, has frequently been visiting Lombok island to acquire South Sea Pearls directly at the source from struggling Indonesian traditional pearl farmers.

As you may be aware Indonesia is far from a developed country and has some of the highest poverty rates in all of Asia. Even so our pearl trader, who I will not name, developed a very bad reputation for paying the lowest possible amount for any pearls he purchased, against all principle of Fair Trade, leaving the already poverty stricken pearl farmers with little or no benefit from their hard work. You may ask where is the justice!!!

I am happy to report that on his latest visit to Lombok all of the pearl farmers on the island banded together and boycotted the wealthy pearl trader, refusing to even meet with him. I received a desperate phone call in Jakarta from him saying that he had already bean in Lombok for a week and had not been able to meet with a single pearl farmer. He made all sorts of promises to me about buying 20kg or more of pearls but after I made a call to my associates in Lombok and found out about the situation, I replied "I am sorry Sir I cannot assist you further as it appears you are not popular with the locals in Lombok"

As far as I am aware our wealthy pearl trader left Lombok with out being able to buy a single pearl!!

 

[pattye]

Owen,

This does indeed sound like a small victory for the pearl farmers; hopefully it will help them feel empowered and more able to get a a decent price for their pearls in the future. Good for you for supporting the farmers.

Does your company support Fair Trade principles?

How large is Lombok pearl production?

 

[Caitlin]

Did they sell their pearls?

 

[barbie biggs]

Well said Caitlin! What a horrible situation. Growing up these amazing pearls and having to sell them for peanuts, starve, or go out of business.
barbie

 

[SteveM]

Selling for a loss is not good business. The amazing thing is that the farms managed to organize. By holding stocks there will be less pressure to harvest, pricing will stabilize and there will be larger and more lustrous pearls commanding better prices next year, independent of market conditions.

Unfortunately, there will be layoffs. But these folks know how to fish.

Too logical. How did that happen?

 

[pearlescence]

Sometimes selling at a loss is good business if what you need to do is get money out of stock rather than hold on to that stock.
Businesses can go bust with lots and lots of stock which is not selling. However the default mantra is 'turnover is vanity, profit is sanity'
If these pearl farmers can sell pearls to other buyers at better prices that was great. If they aren't eating while holding out for higher prices that might not be such a great plan. But it is business unfortunately.

 

[Owen Henderson]

I certainly do support Fair Trade to assist the people at the start of the pearl supply chain in getting a better opportunity in improving their lives. I get so annoyed when I see pearls being sold for incredible amounts for just a single pearl on a simple necklace when I know the price paid to the pearl farmer was 1/10 of the price.

 

[Josh]

Dear Owen, your story makes me dream. It makes me dream of time when there were sufficiently few farmers that you COULD get everyone together and it makes me dream of an area geographically limited enough to make talking to everyone a possibility. That's fantastic too that the farmers could afford to not sell. Things started that way here but most could simply not hold out any longer and had to buckle to opportunist buyers. Your story is one of hope though and it comes at a time when hope seems to be in the wind, at least for Tahitian farmers.

 

[SteveM]

?an area geographically limited enough to make talking to everyone a possibility.

Begs another question. Did the Indian buyer move along to greener (virgin) islands in the archipelago to begin another learning curve on the part of farmers there?

 

[CortezPearls]

I agree with Owen but also understand Josh's point of view. It is despicable to see how our most valued Gem has become but a "trinket" due to bad planning, bad decissions and plain greed.
Fair Trade Gems is the wave Josh...let us all ride on it. Eventually only those that are green will be left on this world and our beautiful gem will once more rule the hearts of men and women and capture the imagination of the world. Ok...I know...just let me dream a while please...it has been a terrible year.

About the Indian Trader: if he had visited us he would have returned empty handed (no pearls) but would have given him a sarape and sombrero. We are having problems -just like other farmers out there- but you have to have respect for your Pearl: if you "*****" (prostitute) your pearl, if you do not respect it...then you don't respect yourself nor your environment. The by all means bow down to the mighty coin, the cold-harsh metal...but may the luster and orient leave your pearls in dull monotony and shame.

 

[Josh]

you don't respect yourself nor your environment. Then by all means bow down to the mighty coin, the cold-harsh metal...but may the luster and orient leave your pearls in dull monotony and shame.

Thanks amigo for your wisdom. That has been our philosophy as well.
To get back to Fair Trade, does anyone know of an entity that is not tied to a private organization that can certify a pearl farm Fair Trade? We have followed Fair Trade policies (and beyond) since our inception but have never had an official title as such.

 

[pearlgem]

Josh,
It seems to me that it is still very difficult to obtain a "fair trade" certificate of any kind for pearls/pearl farms, gemstones and likely products. There are quite some efforts to establish a certification system and process for the jewelry trade, but to my knowledge there is no non-private entity issuing certificates like that for the pearling industry. I am currently in contact with the FLO, let?s see what they can tell me... the problem is that FLO started out in the agricultural sector and it seems to be difficult to modify the standards and processes to suit other trades. I mentioned http://www.fairjewelry.org/ in another post, but discussions are still an early stadium there and in my eyes it fits better for the jewelry producers. Actually, a pearl farm might not be too far away from agricultural processes, right? Hopefully there will be a possibility for certifying in the near future, i think there is a demand for certified pearls, gemstones and jewelry from the consumers. And I would like to be able to offer certified fair trade jewelry products.
Stay tuned,
Sven

Ok, just got a call from the mentioned FLO - they told me that they are thinking about establishing a set of standards for precious metals; pearls and gemstones not for the moment. But they said it is always helpful when there is a demand for such standards from the producers/sellers. Maybe it could be the "Maison de la Perle" or a pearl farmers association asking for such a set of standards for all the Tahitian farmers. They also told me that it takes one to two years to develop the set of standards and that when asking for it, it always helps to know what volume you?re talking about and where the goods will be sold. If you?re interested, i can supply you with contact data and support you. The organisation is in Germany, but they are speaking english as well.
What a pity i couldn?t make it to Tucson, would be easier to talk about this face to face...

One more... there is an Ethical Producer/Manufacturer Meeting Scheduled At AGTA Show, Tucson. The Meeting Will Be On Friday, February 5, 2010, from 2-4pm (source: http://www.fairjewelry.org/archives/3088)

 

[pearlescence]

You could contact the soil association in the uk -www.soilassociation.org
It is a long established registered charity which deals with organics and clean soil and farming so might have something to help you

 

[Josh]

Thanks Sven for all that. I really appreciate it. It makes sense to go the Maison de la Perle to organize something like that. I wonder though if there is not a little conflict of interest in having a government entity in on something like that. They will likely say that because of regulations, everyone is practicing fair trade though we all know that the reality is often something else. For some reason, I had always looked internationally instead of locally for some sort of accrediting body but maybe the answer is closer to home. Thank you for the help in trying to figure this out.
I will be attending the show in Tucson about ethical production/manufacture on Friday. Thanks for the heads up about that too.
Thanks too Wendy for the link. I'll have a look.

 

[pearlgem]

Josh,
With pleasure! What I meant wasn?t that the Maison de la Perle should be issueing the certificate in the end - Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International owns the "Fair Trade" trademark, and one of the national organisations would be doing the certifying. But to be able to do so, they have to develop or modify the standards first. Maison de la Perle could ask them (in the name of the farmers) to develop the set of standards.
Would be great to hear a bit about the ethical production/manufacture lecture afterwards...
Regards, enjoy the show, Sven

 

[Caitlin]

I am so glad this forum gives you two (Josh and Douglas) an opportunity to share with us. The heart of the Pearl Farmer is a precious point of view not available elsewhere. To have you both so green-conscious is a blessing!

 

[Josh]

Thanks Sven. I think I'll go and talk to them when I get back. I'll do my best to report on the lecture when I get home too.
Caitlin, see you tomorrow I hope!

 

[pearlgem]

It seems the below link is broken now. I?ll report when the interview is back online.

Hi all,
I just want to post a link concerning fair trade gold. It is an interview with Patrick Schein, Executive Board Member of the Association of Responsible Mining (ARM).Hope we?ll have something like this for pearls soon...
Regards, Sven

 

[Josh]

Hi everyone,
Thanks to Sven I was able to attend the talk at AGTA on ethical manufacturing and production. It was shocking to me that of the thousands of designers, jewelers, wholesalers, dealers, buyers, etc at the shows, there were not even enough people to fill all the chairs of the room. It was a concentrated group though and a huge eye opener for me in that there are some hard working, focused people in the jewelry industry that are intent on progressive change. Gold mining and precious stones were the focus and I was the only one involved in pearls (represent!) but everyone was welcoming and ready to hear what I had to say.
Eric from Brilliant Earth (www.brilliantearth.com) was there and was a sparkling example of how fair-trade/sustainably minded jewelry can be a profitable alternative to doing it the dinosaur way. They carry Kamoka pearls and specialize in wedding jewelry you can feel good about wearing.
Marc Choyt of www.fairtradejewelry.org was there as well and was an example of the resolve characteristic of this movement to change things for the better.
There was also a woman representing Rio Grande who's perspective I was interested in but she walked out during some statistics about the tonnage of toxic waste that is produced by single gold ring.
My favorite quote from the talk was "you can sheer a sheep countless times but you can only skin it once."

 

[pearlgem]

Hi Josh, hi everyone,
Great that you had a chance to attend the AGTA talk! the low response is shocking indeed! In Germany it is the same - there are a few people in the business pushing the subject, but the impact is still rather small. Scandinavia seems to be a few steps further.
Regarding the interview I mentioned in an earlier post, I wrote to Marc Choyt and he told me he?s hoping to have it back online soon in a modified version, because it was undermining the public relations activities of the FLO in some way. But anyway, it is good that something is happening! I?m really excited about the fact that there will be a reliable and widely accepted standard for fair trade precious metals (at least gold) in the near future. I?ll keep pushing the subject as far as possible for me as well. I?ll be the first to get on the train when there is a certificate for cultured pearls, especially tahitian pearls.
Josh, to renew my offer: If there is anything I can do to support you with regarding the subject of fair trade certification, let me know! The FLO is based in Germany, I could go there easily...

Regards, Sven