Jakarta, March 14 (Antara) -- Over the last few months, precious stones
have been seen gaining popularity in Indonesia, with gemstone lovers
across the country scurrying to buy the rocks.
So it comes as no surprise that gemstone traders offering various kinds
of precious stones are found not only in modern malls, traditional
markets, roadsides and places frequented by customers, but also in
events such as communal gatherings.
Exhibitions and online retail websites have also become effective
platforms to sell gemstones, where transactions worth billions of rupiah
are carried out.
For instance, a natural stone exhibition held in Aceh province this week concluded a transaction of Rp7 billion.
Websites that provide sales services also capitalize on the country's
booming precious stone market. Bukalapak.com, for example, can book
hundreds of millions of rupiah in gemstones transactions per day.
In addition, stone lovers are looking to expand their markets abroad.
The Aceh Natural Stone Lovers Association (GaPBA) will hold an
exhibition in Malaysia of jade and other precious stones, Chairperson of
GaPBA Nasrul Sufi said on Friday.
"We
plan to hold the exhibition in the middle of the year. We will be going
to Malaysia next week to coordinate with the government and other
parties," he added.
The precious stones that will be displayed during the exhibition include jade and other stones from Aceh.
"We hope that through the exhibition, the precious stones from Aceh
will be internationally recognized for their high value," Sufi remarked.
Earlier, the GaPBA had successfully organized a jade exhibition in Aceh, which closed a deal worth Rp7 billion.
"We are very satisfied with the proceeds of the exhibition. The total
transactions amounted to Rp7 billion," Sufi affirmed in Banda Aceh on
Thursday.
The exhibition was held on the third floor of Pasar Atjeh Market in
Band Aceh, he said, adding that it was held from March 6 to 10.
Following the success of the Aceh stone lovers exhibition, other
regions are now interested to organize such expos as well, including
Gorontalo in Sulawesi and West Sumatra province.
According to Deputy Mayor of Gorontalo City Budi Doku , the local
government continues to support the development of the potential in
natural resources, such as in jade and agate stones.
He observed on Friday that the people of Gorontalo were admirers of
previous stones. They love agate and jade stones in ornaments such as
rings, bangles and necklaces.
In support of the development of gemstones, the local government of
Gorontalo will hold a national-scale agate stone exhibition from March
17 to 19.
"The exhibition will be held in Jalan Panjaitan in Gorontalo City. This
place is always frequented by people," the deputy mayor affirmed.
Many handicraftsmen of ring stones from Java, Kalimantan, Sumatra,
Ternate (North Maluku) and West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), apart from
Gorontalo, have confirmed participation, he pointed out.
Moreover, an exhibition on gemstones will also be held in West Sumatra province.
According to Burhasman, the head of the Tourism and Creative Economy
Office of West Sumatra province, his office will hold the Minangkabau
Gemstone Jewelry Expo (Majex) from April 3 to 5.
The exhibition will also focus on the educational aspects for lovers
and collectors of gemstones, locally known as "akik," Burhasman added.
"We will offer visitors and gemstone lovers educational programs on the
precious rocks, including on ways to recognize an original gem from an
artificial one," Burhasman remarked.
The educational programs will involve experts on the stones who have been carrying out research in this field for long.
Furthermore, the other educational aspect of gemstones is to understand
mining by following good and safe methodologies.
"We hope that the gemstone mining that can currently be found
everywhere in Indonesia can be done the right way for the sake of
people's safety, as well as in a way that does not damage the
environment," Burhasman pointed out.
It cannot be denied that in recent months, the precious stone
phenomenon has 'hypnotized' stone lovers in the society. This also
provides online sellers with good opportunities.
Bukalapk.com, for example, could benefit from thousands of transactions every day.
Founder and CEO of the website, Achmad Zaky, said in Jakarta early this
month that most of the transactions on the site were on precious
stones.
Also, transactions on precious stones significantly increased over the last three months.
"The volume of transactions on precious stones through Bukalapak.com is
exceptionally high. It could increase twofold every month, with
transaction values that could amount to hundreds of millions of rupiah
every day. This has also led to the skyrocketing of prices of precious
stones," Zaky explained.
He added that there were three types of precious stones that were the
most sought-after by buyers on Bukalapak.com---opal, agate and what is
locally known as 'bacan' stones.
Now, there are some 150 thousand online retail sites with as many as 500 thousand returning customers.
Furthermore, Central Kalimantan is one of the provinces in the country that has sources of good quality jade stones.
"Central Kalimantan has good quality jade stones that are always hunted
by precious stone lovers, traders and collectors from various regions,"
Sigit K. Yunianto, a member of the Regional Legislative Assembly
(DPRD), Palangka Raya (Central Kalimatan provincial capital), said on
Saturday.
He noted that government officials from Jakarta and other regions, as
well as businessmen, often sought jade stones from Central Kalimantan.
Therefore, he added, this business should be developed and maintained to
ensure that the boom is not temporary.
Yunianto also pointed out that the booming jade stone industry across
the country should serve as a means to promote the regions for their
rich reserves of precious stones. "We should ensure that the popularity
of agate and other precious stones does not last only temporarily.
***3***
(T.A014/INE/B003)
EDITED BY INE
(T.A014/A/BESSR/Bustanuddin) 14-03-2015 20:44 |
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