Like all commodities, pearls are subject to cycles of demand;...

Like all commodities, pearls are subject to cycles of demand; supply being pretty fixed in the short to medium term, that can be reflected in highly volatile prices. I’m not an insider either, the contributors here who do have expert knowledge suggest the market remains very tight with little supply available. No one knows how long this will persist, but the fact that most pearls end up in China, and the Chinese economy is still an emerging economy with a growing middle class, is a positive. Investors tend to underestimate the speed at which markets respond to demand/supply imbalances, eg coal prices have fallen sharply after their initial boom. So I don’t expect pearl prices to remain at current levels indefinitely. But I do think they’ll persist throughout 2024.