THE state-run Myanma Gems Enterprise sold a record number of jade lots at a 13-day sale in Yangon this month, an official from the company said on July 17.

“We sold over 4300 jade lots out of 5880. This is the biggest jade sale in terms of the number of lots sold and money made in the history of these emporiums,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

He said the July 4-16 emporium significantly outperformed a similar sale in March when a little over 3000 jade lots were sold.

The enterprise has not publicly announced earnings from either sale.

The official attributed the strong jade sales to a high turnout of Chinese buyers. Among 4000 merchants, some 2200 were from China and 120 from Thailand, which made up the second largest foreign group, the official Mirror newspaper reported.

The sale was also open to local buyers.

However, while jade was in high demand, the enterprise barely sold 10 percent of gem lots on offer and markedly fewer than were sold in March, the official said.

“We could only sell 27 gem lots out of 246,” he said, noting that 47 gem lots were sold during the March auction.

He said the fall in gem sales was directly related to the cooling of the Thai economy.

“We attracted the same amount of Thai merchants as we did at the previous March emporium but we couldn’t raise gem sales because the gems market in Thailand isn’t active,” he said.