• Burmese
Thursday, July 10, 2025
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Irrawaddy
29 °c
Yangon
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
No Result
View All Result
The Irrawaddy
No Result
View All Result
Home News Burma

Over-Extraction, Chinese Slowdown Blamed for Jade Price Slump

Kyaw Hsu Mon by Kyaw Hsu Mon
June 13, 2016
in Burma
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0 0
A A
Over-Extraction

Dump trucks loaded with soil at a jade mine in Hpakant

4.5k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

RANGOON — With the government’s biannual gem emporium looming at the end of this month, prices for Burmese jade have continued to slide against weakening demand.

Industry insiders have blamed an economic slowdown in China, over-extraction in jade mines, and market uncertainty linked to the transition of power to a democratically elected government in Burma.

“Here, the economy is cooling along with China. The market for jade is stagnant. There are many jade stones, with lots heaping up unsold,” said Tun Hla Aung, joint secretary of Myanmar Gems Traders Association.

RelatedPosts

To Belarus for Bullets and Ballot Scam; A Bogus Peace Forum; and More

To Belarus for Bullets and Ballot Scam; A Bogus Peace Forum; and More

June 28, 2025
1k
Trade and Traffic from Thai Border Region Dwindle as Checkpoints Multiply

Trade and Traffic from Thai Border Region Dwindle as Checkpoints Multiply

June 19, 2025
1.5k
Junta Boss Drops Green Bombshell; Goes Plane-Crazy Over Dollar Shortage; and More  

Junta Boss Drops Green Bombshell; Goes Plane-Crazy Over Dollar Shortage; and More  

June 7, 2025
2.5k

Kyaw Kyaw Oo, executive committee member of the Myanmar Gems Traders Association, highlighted over-extraction—far outstripping current demand—for the slide in prices and what he considered the poor state of the jade market.

“If the government can control such over-mining, things should return back to normal,” Kyaw Kyaw Oo said.

“Prices have been cut to cover production costs [in the short term], but jade prices keep falling,” he said, without specifying by how much.

“Our main customers are from China. Recently, their banks have not been giving loans to gems and jade traders, due to new economic policies from the Chinese government,” he explained.

However, Kyaw Kyaw Oo said that recent disputes and accusations—to which he was party—within the Myanmar Gems Traders Association had not affected the market.

On June 2, 81 members of the association held a press conference in Rangoon, calling on the Ministry of Resources and Environmental Conservation to address the so-far unexplained loss of over US$100 million from the association’s coffers—a scandal in which the former President Thein Sein has been implicated.

“Some people thought this dispute might affect jade and gems trading. Actually, it has not,” Kyaw Kyaw Oo said.

The Myanmar Gems Enterprise, which operates under the Ministry of Resources and Environmental Conservation, will stage the biannual Gem Emporium for local and foreign traders in Naypyidaw from June 24-27.

The process is tightly regulated. Only those holding mining, trading and company licenses, and members of the Myanmar Gems Traders Association, are eligible to take part. Buyers must give a deposit amounting to 5 percent of their expected expenditure.

From June 13, an administrative committee in the Myanmar Gems Enterprise’s head office in Naypyidaw will register local and foreign dealers for the emporium.

“Around 6000 jade lots will be displayed, fewer than last year,” Min Thu, assistant director of the Myanmar Gems Enterprise, told the Irrawaddy. “Although the market is broadly cool, I hope local traders will still be interested in attending.”

Jade mining in Burma is concentrated around the town of Hpakant in Kachin State, northern Burma. Mining there was suspended between 2012 and 2014, due to the resumed war between the Burma Army and the Kachin Independence Army, which has yet to be resolved. In 2014, the (now defunct) Ministry of Mines began reissuing licenses.

More than 850 licenses have been issued to firms at over 8,000 sites since private companies were given permission to mine in 2007. Conditions for local workers are hazardous: The Hpakant area has been plagued by a string of landslides since late last year, including a collapse on November 21 that killed more than 100 people.

International advocacy group Global Witness released a report in 2015 that estimated the value of Burma’s jade production for 2014 at US$31 billion. The greater part of such huge sums are said to be derived from illegal trade with Chinese buyers, from which a shadowy network of military-linked companies and non-state armed groups profit.

Your Thoughts …
Tags: A_FactivaNatural ResourcesTrade
Kyaw Hsu Mon

Kyaw Hsu Mon

The Irrawaddy

Similar Picks:

Drone Attack at Myanmar-China Border Gate Causes Over $14m in Losses
Business

Drone Attack at Myanmar-China Border Gate Causes Over $14m in Losses

by The Irrawaddy
November 27, 2023
38.6k

Jin San Jiao is latest northern Shan State trade hub in crosshairs of ethnic Brotherhood Alliance.

Read moreDetails
General Close to Myanmar Junta Boss Placed Under House Arrest, Interrogated for Corruption
Burma

General Close to Myanmar Junta Boss Placed Under House Arrest, Interrogated for Corruption

by The Irrawaddy
September 14, 2023
28.7k

The arrest of ‘kickback king’ Lt-Gen Moe Myint Tun, once seen as a possible successor to Min Aung Hlaing, comes...

Read moreDetails
Indian Blockade Isolates Myanmar’s Rakhine, Pressures Arakan Army to Leave Chin State
Burma

Indian Blockade Isolates Myanmar’s Rakhine, Pressures Arakan Army to Leave Chin State

by The Irrawaddy
June 28, 2024
13.3k

An ethnic Chin group on India’s border has cut off the last major supply route to Rakhine and issued an...

Read moreDetails
Singapore and Indonesia in Spotlight Over Illegal Arms Exports to Myanmar
Guest Column

Singapore and Indonesia in Spotlight Over Illegal Arms Exports to Myanmar

by Bertil Lintner
October 3, 2023
11.7k

Two recent cases reveal how companies have evaded local and international rules to supply the junta with military hardware.

Read moreDetails
Karen Ethnic Army Launches Final Push to Capture Myawaddy on Thai Border
Burma

Karen Ethnic Army Launches Final Push to Capture Myawaddy on Thai Border

by The Irrawaddy
April 9, 2024
10.3k

The KNLA and PDF groups launched an attack on the last junta battalion defending Myawaddy on Tuesday afternoon and were...

Read moreDetails
China’s Export Ban is Causing Shortages of Medicine, Fuel And Food in Myanmar
Business

China’s Export Ban is Causing Shortages of Medicine, Fuel And Food in Myanmar

by The Irrawaddy
October 28, 2024
10k

Beijing’s crackdown on border trade with Myanmar is aggravating the post-coup economic crisis and the construction sector could see a...

Read moreDetails
Load More
Next Post
Mon Groups Fear Surge of Burman Migrants

Mon Groups Fear Surge of Burman Migrants

Heavy Downpours Continue to Batter Arakan State       

Heavy Downpours Continue to Batter Arakan State       

No Result
View All Result

Recommended

37 Years and Counting: Why Has Myanmar’s Democracy Struggle Taken So Long?

37 Years and Counting: Why Has Myanmar’s Democracy Struggle Taken So Long?

7 days ago
1.3k
China’s Surveillance State Watches Everyone, Everywhere

China’s Surveillance State Watches Everyone, Everywhere

2 days ago
715

Most Read

  • Chin Resistance Tensions Boil Over as CNA Seizes Rival’s Myanmar HQ

    Chin Resistance Tensions Boil Over as CNA Seizes Rival’s Myanmar HQ

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar Junta Starves Last Rakhine Strongholds as AA Closes In

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Trump’s Tariffs to Hit Myanmar’s Garment Manufacturers Hard

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • ‘Reforms Are Not Optional’: Prominent Activist Urges NUG to Act Before It’s Too Late

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar Junta’s Top Russian Arms Supplier Tosses in Quake ‘Donation’

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter

Get The Irrawaddy’s latest news, analyses and opinion pieces on Myanmar in your inbox.

Subscribe here for daily updates.

Contents

  • News
  • Politics
  • War Against the Junta
  • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
  • Conflicts In Numbers
  • Junta Crony
  • Ethnic Issues
  • Asia
  • World
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Election 2020
  • Elections in History
  • Cartoons
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Commentary
  • Guest Column
  • Analysis
  • Letters
  • In Person
  • Interview
  • Profile
  • Dateline
  • Specials
  • Myanmar Diary
  • Women & Gender
  • Places in History
  • On This Day
  • From the Archive
  • Myanmar & COVID-19
  • Intelligence
  • Myanmar-China Watch
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Fashion & Design
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Photo Essay
  • Donation

About The Irrawaddy

Founded in 1993 by a group of Myanmar journalists living in exile in Thailand, The Irrawaddy is a leading source of reliable news, information, and analysis on Burma/Myanmar and the Southeast Asian region. From its inception, The Irrawaddy has been an independent news media group, unaffiliated with any political party, organization or government. We believe that media must be free and independent and we strive to preserve press freedom.

  • Copyright
  • Code of Ethics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Team
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Burmese

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Business Roundup
  • Books
  • Donation

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.