Friday, 13th January 2006 (3782 views)

Vietnamese exports of gold jewellery to the US would grow even further if manufacturers were to invest in more sophisticated technology, a US expert has said.

Vietnam's competitiveness in the jewellery market is being unnecessarily hampered by inconsistency in terms of quality, design and weight, a result of manual manufacturing methods, Arthur Taylor explained.

The WR Cobb employee also stressed that now was the time to invest, as import tariffs on jewellery coming into the US had dropped by 60 per cent.

However, Vietnamese jewellers say they would struggle to afford the cost of modern processing technology, with one marketing manager adding that local goldsmiths don't have the same skills as their counterparts in other countries.

Tran Huy Nhan of the Saigon Jewellery Holding Company (SJC) complained: "We don't have unique designs to attract customers," according to Diamonds.Net.

"If we want to export to the states, we cannot use some details of already registered designs because it violates copyright law."

Nevertheless, gold jewellery exports from Vietnam have still increased, from being worth $50 million in 2003 to around $80 million the following year.

 

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