China News Service, Shaoxing, November 30 (Fang Kun) China is the world’s largest producer of freshwater pearls. Shanxiahu Town, Zhuji City, Zhejiang Province, known as the “Pearl Capital of China”, has the world’s largest freshwater pearl trading market, accounting for the world’s 73% of the total production of freshwater pearls, and 80% of the total production of freshwater pearls in China. The price of freshwater pearls here can be said to be the vane.

　　Right now, it is the best time to harvest pearls, but the pearl purchasers in Zhuji City frowned.

"In the past, I was waiting for the farmers to send the pearls to my door. This year, I went to collect it by myself. We used to set the price, but now the farmers have the final say." He Tao, the pearl purchaser, was rather helpless.

　　The main reason is that the scale of pearl cultivation in Zhuji City is decreasing at a rate of 20% every year, from more than 1 million mu in 2017 to more than 400,000 mu today.

In addition, market price increases are expected to continue to rise, making purchasers more willing to stock up.

Why does the “Pearl Capital of China” decrease the scale of pearl cultivation year by year?

　　As the main producing area of ​​freshwater pearls in China, Zhuji, Zhejiang, why has the pearl production declined year after year?

　　According to data from the Zhejiang Pearl Industry Association, China’s pearl production was 1.2 million kilograms in 2019, and it will drop to 1 million kilograms by 2020 and 800,000 kilograms in 2021. The pearl production is declining year by year.

　　According to industry insiders, this is mainly because pearl farming is considered a major “culprit” of water pollution.

In the past, many pearl farmers were too pursuing economic benefits. In order to let the pearls grow quickly, they fed a lot of fertilizers, which caused water pollution. In order to protect the ecological environment, a batch of farms that did not meet the ecological standards were shut down. This is also the core of the decline in pearl production. reason.

　　It is reported that since 2014, Zhuji City has taken the "five-water co-governance" as an opportunity to force the transformation and upgrading of pearl farming, and gradually embark on a green and sustainable development path that "requires both jewels and clear waters".

After the rectification, the annual pearl output in Zhuji City has dropped by 70%, and the number of pearl farmers has dropped by 90%.

Production declines, prices rise, pearl processing enterprises look for countermeasures

　　Given the continuous decline in pearl production and strong market demand, what is the price of pearls?

If downstream pearl processing companies want to survive, how should they look for countermeasures?

Workers in the Pearl Enterprise in Shanxia Lake Town are picking pearls. Photo by Fang Kun

　　"In fact, since 2014, the purchase price of pearls has been rising every year. This year, the price of freshwater pearls with better quality is about 500 yuan per catty, and the purchase price of pearls has increased by about 30% year-on-year." said He Yinlei, head of Zhuji Runhe Pearl .

　　In this context, local enterprises in Zhuji have also undergone transformation.

Some pearl processing companies have transformed upstream and downstream, restarted the pearl culture industry, and further "machine substitutions" to save corporate labor costs.

　　More pearl companies have embarked on the road of e-commerce, using "small profits but quick turnover" to counter the pressure of rising costs.

　　In Xinchangle Village, Shanxiahu Town, Zhuji City, more than 80% of the villagers are engaged in pearl production and sales, and more than 300 businesses have contacted the Internet for e-commerce.

Compared with the visible and tangible characteristics of physical market sales, the rapidly popular e-commerce live broadcast refreshed the pearl sales model. Only the village’s annual online sales reached 2 billion yuan.

　　In the East China International Jewelry City in Zhuji, basically every physical store has its own "live broadcast store."

"In the past, the total annual sales of the physical stores in East China International Jewelry City was more than 10 billion yuan. Now only through the'live shop', there are more than 20 billion yuan in online sales each year." He Jianliang, head of Zhejiang Ruan Shi Pearl Co., Ltd. Say.

Freshwater pearl produced by Shanxiahu Town, photo by Fang Kun

The "Pearl Capital of China" kicks off another "green revolution" in pearl cultivation

　　In the face of the industry pattern of falling output and rising prices, the local government and related enterprises have vigorously explored the sustainable development of pearl farming.

　　In November, in the breeding area of ​​Shanxiahu Town, Zhuji City, transparent spheres floated on the rippling blue lake, floating and sinking with the waves.

“The breeding pond is covered with pipe networks, and the pearl mussels are suspended under the water pipes, and they are raised and lowered through the water pressure adjustment pipe network.” According to Guo Weifeng, chairman of Zhejiang Qinghu Holding Group Co., Ltd., they drilled holes for each mussel shell. Through drip irrigation, food and algae are accurately fed into each mussel body, which effectively avoids the pollution caused by the breeding process from the root.

　　It is reported that this is Guo Weifeng teamed up with a number of universities and research institutes to carry out industry-university-research research, and finally developed a subverted traditional freshwater pearl culture model-pearl mussel automatic dropper clear water culture model.

This model upgrades the original automatic dropper feeding and feeding pipe network to create a more advanced digital and intelligent dropper feeding system, and further optimizes the pearl clear water culture model.

　　In November, at the Zhuji Agricultural High-quality Development Conference, as one of the "Agricultural Double Powers" contracted projects, Zhejiang Qinghu Holding Group Co., Ltd. and Zhejiang Yuangu Ecological Environment Technology Co., Ltd. signed a pearl digital breeding base project.

Freshwater pearl jewelry produced in Shanxiahu Town, photo by Fang Kun

　　"The significance of this cooperation is to create an upgraded version of the'Pearl Mussel Automatic Dropper Clean Water Cultivation Model' and promote the high-quality development of the pearl industry." Guo Weifeng said that through cooperation, they will explore how to increase pearl production while maintaining the original model. With traditional breeding methods, about 1,000 mussels can be cultivated per acre of lake water, and 4,000 mussels can be cultivated using the "Pearl mussel automatic dropper clear water breeding mode". The cooperation between "Clear Lake" and "Yuangu" will The potential of the technology is fully utilized, and the breeding density can be increased to 10,000 per mu.

　　If pearl farming was the “original sin” of polluting water sources and the scale of pearl farming in the “Pearl Capital of China” is decreasing year by year, then with the blessing of technology, the “green revolution” in pearl farming will give pearl practitioners a promising future.

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