PESHAWAR, April 1: After fall of number of local customers owing to acts of terrorism and high prices of gold, the jewellers in provincial capital are now looking for buyers in international market.

“Bomb blasts have scared away customers from the local markets and jewellers are now taking their gold ornaments to foreign markets,” said Jehangir Ghufran Khan, a jeweller of Ander Sher, the famous jewellery market of Peshawar city.

Mr Khan, who is also president of the Jewellers’ Association of the market, said that their gold was of good quality and could compete with Indian jewellery. “Jewellers from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are now sending their ornaments for sale to Thailand and China mostly,” he said.

Asked why jewellers were looking for buyers in the international market as prices of gold ornaments were quite high in the local market, he said that the number of customers sharply dropped owing to terrorism.

Meena Bazaar and Khyber Bazaar, main business hubs in the old part of Peshawar city, were jolted by bomb blasts few years ago.

However, the ever-rising prices of the gold is one of the main reasons that people are not buying gold ornaments and use of artificial jewellery is in fashion nowadays.

“The local buyers have also lost purchasing power to buy gold ornaments,” Mr Khan said, adding that most of the jewellers were now selling their jewellery in Thai and Chinese markets.

A recent data of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics is also a proof of this growing trend. The statistics show that gold jewellery export in the country during July-February (2011-12) was recorded at $511.994 million against that of $245.045 million during the same period last year.

Dr Zalakhat, an economist, when asked whether the growing trend of sale of gold ornaments in the foreign markets was going to have an effect on the local market, said that a product was exported if it was surplus in the local market. The prices of gold ornaments were so high that people couldn’t afford to buy, he added.

“The trend of sending gold ornaments to foreign markets owing to decline in number of local buyers is still going to benefit us. It would not only earn foreign exchange, if legal channels are used, but Pakistani brands will be also introduced in the international market,” Dr Zalakat said.

He said that introduction of Pakistani jewellery in international market was also a good outcome as uptil now only Indian ornaments were famous.

From the Newspaper