Precious stones come home to mainland China
One of Hong Kong's most popular television programmes is a documentary series that charts the experiences of Chinese living abroad. Now the same production company is reportedly planning a series that portrays the successes and struggles of the thousands of overseas Chinese who have returned to China to taste economic success. Lorenzo Yih would be a perfect subject for such a programme. Born in central China's Sichuan province in 1939, Mr Yih lived briefly in Hong Kong as a child before spending most of the next four decades in Brazil and the US.
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In the early 1980s, he founded LJ International, which is now a Nasdaq-listed jewellery-maker, before moving back to Hong Kong in 1987.
In 1990, Mr Yih became one of the first investors to set up a factory in the mainland as China opened its doors to foreign investment. China's low production costs and reliable labour force helped turn Mr Yih's small family-controlled gemstone trading company into a group that produces 2m pieces of fine jewellery a year, mostly using coloured stones such as topaz and garnets.
LJ International generated sales of $77.4m in 2004, boosted by contracts from TV shopping channels and leading US retailers such as Wal-Mart and Macy's.
Lured by the potential of China's vast domestic market, the company moved into retail two years ago, opening its first store in Hong Kong. It opened two outlets in Shanghai last year, while three others are planned for this month. The target is to have 100 stores in China within five years.
“We didn't just decide to do retail overnight. We spent years on research and concluded that, while in the past China was a manufacturing story, it is definitely a retail story now,” Mr Yih says.
The jewellery market in China has grown from total sales of $2.5bn in 1991 to $14.8bn in 2002. While this compares with a market of $42bn in the US, the growth rate in China is about 20 per cent a year, compared with about 6 per cent in the US, according to Mr Yih. But, like many other retail markets in China, competition is intense.
The key challenge for Mr Yih is that Chinese consumers appear to prefer gold, and increasingly diamonds, to coloured gems. Demand for gold and diamond jewellery rose by 2 per cent and8 per cent respectively in 2003, while demand for jewellery containing other gems dropped 6 per cent, according to GFMS, a consultancy, and World Gold Council estimates.
“In China, the most fashionable jewellery is diamonds. Old people like gold; young people like diamonds,” says Mr Zhou, a committee member of the Chinese Valuable Jade Association, an industry body.
Wong Wai-sheung, chief executive of Luk Fook, a Hong Kong jeweller with 135 licensee shops and two wholly owned stores in China, says gold accounts for half its sales on the mainland and diamonds for 30 per cent. The remainder is generated by platinum, pearls and other gems. “In our experience, coloured gems are not too popular. Consumers don't think they are classy enough,” he says.
But Mr Yih, who points out that coloured gems account for about 13 per cent of the US jewellery market, says: “Customers are bored with jewellery such as platinum and gold now.” The company has hired 20 designers to create 900 models every month.
海龟叶毓川
《寻找他乡的故事》是香港最流行的电视节目之一，节目以纪录片的方式，追踪海外华人的生活。听说该节目的制作公司现在正在策划一组 “海归”故事，描述一群归国的海外华人如何在中国闯荡，体验中国的经济成功。叶毓川(Lorenzo Yih)应该是该节目绝佳的选题对象。他1939年出生于四川省，孩提时在香港短暂生活过一段时间，接下来的40年大多生活在巴西和美国。
1980年代早期，他创办了劳伦斯国际公司（LJ International），该公司是一家珠宝公司，现已在纳斯达克上市。1987年叶先生迁回香港。
1990年，叶先生成为中国改革开放后率先在大陆设厂的投资人之一。由于中国生产成本低，劳动力供应稳定，叶先生名下的宝石贸易家族企业迅速发展成为企业集团，每年生产200万件珠宝，多半以黄宝石、石榴石等彩色宝石为原料。
劳伦斯国际公司和电视购物频道合作，并通过沃尔玛（Wal-Mart）和梅西百货（Macy）等一流美国零售企业分销。通过这些手段，公司2004年的销售额达到了7740万美元。
受中国巨大市场的吸引，公司两年前进入了零售业。它的第一家商店开在香港，去年又在上海开了分店，预计本月还有三家分店开张。公司的目标是在五年内开100家分店。
“我们进入零售领域并非临时决定。事前我们花了好几年时间调研，觉得过去中国的重点是生产，现在零售肯定是重中之重了。”叶先生说。
中国珠宝市场的总销售额从1991年的25亿美元上升到了2002年的148亿美元，这和总规模为420亿美元的美国珠宝市场还有距离，但是中国的增长率为20%，而美国只有6%。不过，和其它零售领域一样，中国珠宝零售的竞争也非常激烈。
叶先生面临的关键挑战是，消费者似乎更喜欢黄金，而且越来越喜欢钻石，而不是彩色宝石。根据咨询机构GF MS和世界黄金协会（World Gold Council）的统计，2003年黄金和钻石珠宝的销售额分别上升了2%和8%， 而其它宝石珠宝的需求下降了6%。
“在中国，最流行的珠宝为钻石。老年人比较喜欢黄金；年轻人喜欢钻石，”行业协会中国宝玉石协会（Chinese Valuable Jade Association）的领导成员周先生说。
六福集团是一家香港珠宝企业，在大陆有135家加盟店和两家专卖店，该公司行政总裁黄伟常说，中国大陆珠宝销售中，黄金占50%，钻石占30%，其余的是白金、珍珠和其它宝石。“按照我们的经验，彩色宝石并不是很流行。消费者觉得它们的不够经典，”他说。
但是叶先生指出，美国的彩色宝石占珠宝销售总额13%。他说：“消费者现在对白金和黄金之类的珠宝也腻烦了。”这家公司聘请了20位设计师，每个月设计900种款式。
