Traders at a previous pearl sale examine the lustrous wonders of the deep.

A TOTAL of 92 pearl lots were sold during the latest special gem emporium held from June 22 to July 4 at the Myanmar Convention Centre (MCC).

Overall sales accounted for 35 percent of the available 260 lots, which were displayed by Nino, Orient Pearl and the Myanmar Pearl Enterprise.

U Sein Lwin, the general manager of Myanmar Pearl Enterprise, conceded that sales were lower than they have been in the past.

“We sold about 35 percent of pearls lots we had for traders to look at, which was lower than our last sale certainly,” he said.

At the last sale, from May 22 to 29, 350 of the 380 lots sold out.

Orient Pearl had 12 lots up for auction at the emporium and managed to sell four.

U Myint Lwin, the company’s managing director, gave an indication as to why the sale was not as lucrative as previous events.

“The pearls that we exhibited this time were the last that we had left from the previous harvest and did not include that many high-quality specimens. Traders knew about this in advance, which is why there were only seven international pearl traders at the emporium.

“But we will start harvesting the next batch of pearls in August, mainly selling directly to international buyers; we don’t usually put many lots up for auction,” he said.