Qin Haoran, who was sitting in front, laughed and gave Zhuang Rui and the others a lesson. He explained in detail the origin and development of the Myanmar jade auction.
The earliest jade auction in Myanmar dates back to 1962. After the military took over the government, in order to prevent tax revenue loss and generate more foreign exchange revenue for the country from the scarce jade resources, a jade rough auction was launched in March 1964.
Qin Haoran added that the estimated price of raw jadeite at the public auction is simply determined by industry insiders or the market through consensus. There is no need for special appraisal of the item, because some sealed bids cannot be appraised and can only be priced by the owner of the raw jadeite.
Myanmar's Jewelry Law stipulates that all jadeite rough stones mined from mining areas must be collected in Yangon for classification, grading, numbering, and setting a reserve price. Jewelry merchants from around the world are invited to Yangon regularly or irregularly each year to appraise and bid on these rough stones; whoever offers the highest price wins the purchase.
Today, the jade auctions in Myanmar are quite formalized. Like the Pingzhou auction, they are conducted through both open bidding and sealed bidding. Of course, the Pingzhou auction completely copied the practices of the Myanmar auctions.
Merchants fill out the bidding form with the number issued to them by the organizing committee, their name, the rough stone number they are bidding on, and their bid price. They then deposit the form into the box labeled with the rough stone number. Because bidders do not know each other's bidding items or prices, this is called a "sealed bid." This differs from the Pingzhou Gemstone Auction, where all sealed bids are submitted together, making statistics during the bidding process cumbersome. The Myanmar Gemstone Auction, on the other hand, uses a separate box for each rough stone, making the bidding process much more convenient.
During the bidding process, the winning bidder and the bid price are announced publicly according to the rough stone number. In each public auction of jadeite rough stones, more than 4/5 of the rough stones are sold through sealed bids, which can be said to be the main way to sell rough stones.
Open bidding is naturally an on-site auction. All the raw material dealers gather in the trading hall. Each time the auction staff announces a raw material number, the bidders take turns bidding on the spot. Whoever offers the highest bid wins the bid.
"By the way, Zhuang Rui, if you win the bid, it's best to pay all the formalities on the spot. The organizing committee will handle customs clearance and transportation procedures or issue sales and processing permits for you free of charge on-site. This will save you a lot of trouble..."
After Qin Haoran introduced the details of the auction, he specifically instructed the successful bidders on matters after winning the bid. If the successful bidders did not pay the full price of the raw materials on the spot, they only needed to sign the "Winning Bid Contract" with the organizing committee and did not need to pay any deposit. However, the successful bidders had to transfer the winning bid amount to the Myanmar bank account designated by the organizing committee within three months, and the organizing committee would handle customs clearance, transportation and other matters for them free of charge.
Of course, small pieces of raw materials can also be taken with you, and the certificate issued by the organizing committee can be used for customs clearance.
The organizing committee creates special files for the winning raw material merchants, granting them preferential access to the next public auction, almost like VIP treatment.
If raw material merchants win the bid and then evade the bidding, the penalties are quite severe. The organizing committee will impose an indefinite ban (for Burmese nationals) or a 10-year ban (for foreign nationals) from participating in the public auction. Foreign merchants will also be restricted from entering the country for five years.
As the group chatted, the car arrived at the venue for this year's jade fair in Myanmar: the Myanmar National Gem and Jewelry Exchange Center. Zhuang Rui and the others got out of the car. The place looked more like a military camp than a place for buying and selling jade.
At the entrance to this public auction, there were not only heavily armed soldiers, but also an armored vehicle. Outside the steel-structured wall, squads of soldiers were patrolling to prevent anyone from scaling the wall and entering.
"Let's go, there are fewer people now, let's hurry up and get our admission passes..."
Qin Haoran got out of the car and went straight to the window at the entrance of the public auction. Zhuang Rui was a little confused. Didn't they have an invitation? Why did they need to get an admission pass?
"You really don't know anything, kid. That's called a deposit. If you buy something and then sell it without paying, the money is non-refundable. If you don't buy it, it will be refunded to your designated account..."
Fatty Ma knew this, and proudly boasted to Zhuang Rui for a while before swaying his fat body and running over. When the bus arrived, it would be quite crowded.
"Damn, ten thousand? In euros? Why don't you ask if it'll work in US dollars?" Zhuang Rui was speechless after hearing Peng Fei's words, who was temporarily acting as the translator. He didn't have any euros, and the check was in US dollars. He didn't know what had gotten into the organizing committee. The US dollar was the hard currency in Myanmar, but they insisted on using euros for the transaction.
Fortunately, the US dollar could also be used for payment according to the exchange rate. After filling out a personal information form and paying the money, Zhuang Rui and Peng Fei each received an admission pass that they could hang around their necks. Each pass had a number on it, and when they entered the venue to bid, they would need to write down the number on their admission pass.
Chapter 444 Clearly marked (1)
The venue of the Myanmar Jewelry and Jade Exchange Center was much larger than the Pingzhou Jadeite Gambling Venue, covering tens of thousands of square meters and entirely filled with jadeite rough stones for this transaction. At this moment, apart from the staff, there were only a handful of out-of-town rough stone merchants, including Zhuang Rui, making the venue seem quite empty.
"Zhuang Rui, this auction runs from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. They'll clear the area as soon as the time is up, so let's split up and look at the rough stones. Let's not waste any time..."
While Zhuang Rui was still looking around, Qin Haoran had already led the jade gambling consultants toward the rows of neatly stacked jade pieces.
Due to the scarcity of raw materials, one of Qin's Jewelry's processing plants has already stopped operating. Not only them, but many jewelry companies are also struggling to keep up with the demand for raw materials and are hoping to find some at this jade auction.
You have to understand that in ancient times, or even just a few decades ago, jade mines were mined by hand, and only a handful of top-quality jadeite rough stones were extracted each year. Now, with advanced equipment, a mountain can be leveled in just six months.
Jadeite is only produced in Myanmar, primarily concentrated in the Myitkyina region of northeastern Myanmar, spanning an area approximately 150 kilometers long and 30 kilometers wide. The formation of each piece of jadeite requires extremely demanding natural conditions and at least 200 million years. Therefore, jadeite can only become more expensive.
It has been estimated that the amount of jadeite mined in a single year now is equivalent to that mined in the past three hundred years. If this trend continues, jadeite mines in Myanmar may be depleted or even disappear within the next fifteen years.
If this is true, it would be a disaster for Chinese jewelry merchants, as the number of people buying jadeite luxury goods as collectibles in China is increasing daily.
Zhuang Rui once saw a document provided by the Jade Association, which showed that although jadeite is produced in Myanmar, the market is in China. Every year, 90% of the jadeite rough stones mined in Myanmar are bought by mainland Chinese buyers, and 80% of the raw materials are processed and sold in mainland China. China has become the world's major high-end jadeite consumer market.
From the early 1980s to the present, China's jewelry industry has experienced unprecedented development, with its output value growing from 100 million to nearly 100 billion. The price of jadeite has increased more than three hundredfold, becoming a major player in the jewelry market. This huge market has attracted the attention of everyone. Hong Kong jewelry companies have recognized the domestic market demand. Due to the gradual depletion of resources in Myanmar's mining areas, renowned jewelry companies, including Qin's Jewelry, have brought back collectible mid-to-high-end jadeite from decades ago to the mainland to capitalize on the booming market.
However, this behavior is tantamount to drinking poison to quench thirst. Although Qin's Jewelry has seized a lot of market share in the mainland by relying on decades of accumulated raw material inventory, the inventory of raw materials is running out, which has led to the shutdown of a processing plant in Guangdong. If it cannot purchase jade raw materials this time, it is likely that it will lose the market share it has previously occupied.
In today's product sales, distribution channels are king. If the dozens of jewelry stores in mainland China were to lose their customer base, it would be a fatal blow to Qin's Jewelry.
This time, the Qin family patriarch also placed all his bets on the Myanmar jade auction, mobilizing all of the family's cash, totaling nearly 100 million euros, all of which was brought to Myanmar by Qin Haoran. It can be said that he was going all in. Therefore, as soon as Qin Haoran entered the jade gambling venue, he immediately took the jade gambling consultants to look at the rough stones.
Standing at the entrance of the venue, you can see hundreds of thousands of raw stones next to a small red bidding box. On the side of the bidding box, there is a glass drawer containing a bidding form. If you like a piece of stone, you can simply take the bidding form, fill in the number of the raw stone and your admission pass, and put it into the bidding box.
However, there is one thing to note: when you fill out the bid form, you must calculate the exchange rate between Euros and RMB, otherwise you will suffer a great loss. As Qin Haoran just mentioned, many people from the mainland who come to gamble on jade have had to leave in tears because they wrote down the RMB amount they had calculated in their minds instead of Euros when filling out the bid form, and they will not be allowed to enter here again for ten years.
Last year, someone had their eye on a piece of raw jade. The starting price was 100,000 euros, and the person thought they could get it for around 300,000 euros. They mentally calculated it to be about 3 million RMB, so they casually wrote down 3 million.
A week later, when the bidding opened, he naturally won the bid for the raw material with his three million, but he had to pay in euros. The man was devastated and could only accept his bad luck and leave in disappointment. His deposit of ten thousand euros was also gone.
"Brother Zhuang, how about we go for a walk together?"
When Ma Pangzi and Song Jun arrived here, they were also a bit lost. The huge area was full of jadeite raw materials, with countless semi-gambled and fully gambled pieces. Under the scorching sun, the green jadeite on the surface emitted an alluring luster.
"Gentlemen, feel free to look around. There are so many materials; even a month wouldn't be enough to see them all, let alone 10 days. Just try your luck..."
Zhuang Rui didn't want to be with the two of them. They knew him very well, especially Fatty Ma, whose eyes were sharp enough that if he were to observe the raw materials at such a speed, Fatty Ma might notice something amiss.
"Whatever, but Brother Zhuang, if you find something you like but can't stomach, you should let us know..."
Fatty Ma didn't force them. Neither he nor Song Jun were short of money; they came here more for the thrill. The allure of jade gambling lay entirely in the act of gambling itself. The exhilarating feeling of going from heaven to hell with a single cut during the stone-cutting process was enough to get these two bored big shots' blood pumping and hearts racing.
After Fatty Ma and Song Jun left with their bodyguards, Zhuang Rui didn't rush to look at the raw materials. Instead, he flipped through the venue guide in his hand, which was given to him for free upon entering the venue. It had annotations in Chinese, Burmese, and English.
According to the guide, Zhuang Rui learned that the entire venue was divided into two areas. Ninety-five percent of the space was used for the placement of sealed bid rough stones, while only five percent was for open bidding. This shows how disparate the two areas were.
According to the guide, the bidding for open-bid materials, or the on-site auction, is held once a day, unlike the sealed-bid materials which have to wait a week. Zhuang Rui plans to go to the open-bid area to see if there are any suitable materials and make a note of them so that he can see if he can win a piece when the bidding opens.
"Brother Zhuang, where are we going?"
After seeing Zhuang Rui flip through the guide in his hand, Peng Fei quickly followed. He knew nothing about gambling on stones and was now regretting it. He should have gone to prepare the equipment for the trip to Myitkyina.
Zhuang Rui replied with a smile, "Let's go see Ming Biao and Peng Fei. There'll be a good show this afternoon..."
The two walked for seven or eight minutes before passing through the sealed-bid area and arriving at a corner of the venue. Here, next to the raw materials on the ground, there were no more obvious bidding boxes, and apart from the armed soldiers standing in the distance, only Zhuang Rui and Peng Fei were present.
"Peng Fei, there are chairs over there, go and rest. Call me when it's noon..."
Zhuang Rui greeted Peng Fei, took a pen and notebook, and carried a backpack containing a magnifying glass, a small brush, and other items before entering the bidding area.
Although the number of open bids was not large, that was relative. Compared to the Pingzhou market, it was probably no less than the number of sealed bids there. There were tens of thousands of rough stones, neatly piled on the ground, and each piece of jadeite rough stone had its number written in a conspicuous place.
Taking advantage of the fact that there were few people around and no one was paying attention to him, Zhuang Rui entered the bidding area and, without even bending over, immediately released his spiritual energy to examine each piece. He didn't bother to check the details of the raw materials; he simply sensed whether there was any spiritual energy inside. If there wasn't, he wouldn't even stop walking.
In just a few minutes, Zhuang Rui walked more than ten meters inside. Since the raw materials were arranged in rows on both sides of the road, Zhuang Rui was seen swaying his head from side to side. If others saw him doing this, they would definitely think that he was some wealthy tourist who had sneaked in to watch the excitement.
"Damn it, are all the jadeite rough stones here shipped from Pingzhou for export and then resold domestically?"
In that minute, Zhuang Rui had examined hundreds of rough stones, only to find that almost none of them contained jade. Even those with green on the cut surface were completely devoid of jade, leaving Zhuang Rui utterly disappointed.
The Myanmar jade auction is similar to the Pingzhou auction; they throw materials with poor performance into the open bidding area. To put it bluntly, some jade mine owners simply throw in large boulders with no jade-like qualities. Since there are many people eager for jade raw materials, they might be able to sell them.
Zhuang Rui looked around for another half hour and had already walked more than 30 meters into the designated bidding area. He did manage to spot two pieces of material that he liked. Although the quality was average, they contained green jade, so they could still be used to make some low-end jewelry. Zhuang Rui wrote down the numbers of the two pieces of rough jade in his notebook.
"Huh?"
When Zhuang Rui's eyes inadvertently swept over a piece of rough jade, he stopped in his tracks, because he sensed that the oval-shaped piece of rough jade beneath his feet contained an extremely rich spiritual energy.
"Brother Zhuang, you're here too?"
Just as Zhuang Rui was about to squat down to examine it more closely, he suddenly heard a greeting. Looking up, he saw Yang Hao and several middle-aged men walking into the bidding area.
Chapter 445 Clearly marked (2)
"Brother Zhuang, I was looking for you when I got off the bus. You're really fast! Oh, by the way, this is my uncle..."
Upon seeing Zhuang Rui, Yang Hao was quite excited and rushed over. The two middle-aged men behind him also lit up when they heard Zhuang Rui's name and followed him over.
"Mr. Zhuang is truly a big spender. The top lot he won in the Pingzhou jade market is known to everyone. I'd love to learn from Mr. Zhuang's experience sometime..."
Yang Hao's uncle immediately grabbed Zhuang Rui's hand. His enthusiastic manner made Zhuang Rui feel a little dumbfounded. What experience did he have? He relied entirely on his eyes. But even if he told him, he couldn't just gouge it out, could he?
"Mr. Yang, you flatter me. It was all luck. What brings you gentlemen to the open bidding area?"
Zhuang Rui was somewhat puzzled. The raw jade stones at the Myanmar jade auction were worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, while the open bids were only around ten thousand dollars. Logically, these people should be focusing on the sealed bids.
"Hehe, we'll look at the open bidding for the first few days to see if we can win a few pieces. The competition in the sealed bidding is too fierce. If we don't win, we'll go home empty-handed..."
Zhuang Rui understood what the other party was saying. It turned out that the other party felt they didn't have enough capital to compete in the sealed bid, so they came to the open bid to pick up cheap goods.
Zhuang Rui was right. These rough jade dealers from Chaozhou, like Yang Hao, are considered speculative investors in the jade auction market. When friends and family pool their money to gamble on stones, they don't put all their eggs in one basket. Instead, they cast a wide net and buy a little of everything.
Due to extensive mechanical mining, the depletion of Myanmar's jadeite veins is inevitable. In another ten years or so, there will probably be no new jadeite raw materials produced. Therefore, the competition at each annual jadeite auction will be extremely fierce, and companies or individuals with insufficient financial resources will be gradually eliminated.
"Mr. Yang, you all go ahead with your work. I'm just here to take a look and join in the fun..."
After chatting with Yang Hao and the others for a while, Zhuang Rui prepared to continue looking at the same piece of jade. It took them some time to finally spot a rough jade piece brimming with spiritual energy. Zhuang Rui wasn't going to let it slip by.
"Mr. Zhuang has his eye on that piece of material? Let us broaden our horizons..."
Uncle Yang Hao's words made Zhuang Rui, who was about to squat down, straighten up again. "If I had my eye on something, would I tell you? This is just asking for trouble."
"Just browsing, hehe, just browsing..."
Zhuang Rui chuckled twice, walked to the piece of material in front of him, and pretended to look at it, while he scribbled on his notebook with a pen in his hand.
"Zhuang Rui, you keep watch for now, we're going over there..."
Yang Hao greeted Zhuang Rui somewhat embarrassedly, then pulled his uncle to another row of stalls to check out the raw materials. Everyone knew that there was a shortage of raw materials in the domestic market, so no one would tell you about the materials they had their eye on. Yang Hao's uncle's question just now was a bit inappropriate.
After Zhuang Rui and the others had walked far away, he didn't turn back. Instead, he squatted down and looked at the jadeite rough stone that contained spiritual energy.
The rough stone was quite large, oval-shaped and lying horizontally on the ground. Zhuang Rui estimated it to weigh three or four hundred pounds. It was a completely uncut piece, without any rubbing or windowing, and it didn't have an outer skin, looking no different from a regular stone. Zhuang Rui knew that this should be jade from the new mine.
The difference between so-called "old mine jade" and "new mine jade" lies in the fact that "old mine jade" always has an outer skin and is generally not large in size, while "new mine jade" refers to rough stones that are mechanically excavated and mined along the jade veins. Without cutting them open, it is difficult to tell whether there is jade inside.
Gambling on jade from new mines is much riskier than gambling on jade from old mines. Although the price of these new jade pieces may be lower, the possibility that they contain nothing at all is much greater.
Zhuang Rui didn't rush to look inside the rough stone, but instead focused his attention on the sign next to it. Sure enough, this piece of material came from the Masa New Factory in Myanmar.
By this time, Zhuang Rui was no longer a complete novice in Pingzhou jade gambling. He had some understanding of the mine. The Masa mine's jade varied in quality, some with good texture and others with poor clarity. They had produced glass-like jade before, but there were also many pieces with poor texture, making it a highly risky type of jade. The only distinctive feature was that the green color was relatively pale, which is also a common characteristic of rough jade from new mines.
"High-quality icy jadeite, what a pity, the color is too light..."
After examining the external appearance, Zhuang Rui immediately began to observe the internal structure. The texture and clarity were indeed excellent. When the spiritual energy had just penetrated seven or eight centimeters into the stone, jadeite emerged, resembling ice frozen in winter. The transparency was very high, but the color was somewhat pale. It was estimated that this material could only be used to make some mid- to low-grade bracelets.
However, the jadeite inside the rough stone was quite large, with two sections of about 1.2 meters in length showing green color. Zhuang Rui estimated in his mind that it shouldn't be a problem to extract about 70 or 80 kilograms of jade.
Based on current jadeite raw material market prices, the price of this icy jadeite has increased fivefold compared to six months ago. If 70-80 kilograms of jadeite were put on the market, the price would conservatively be over 20 million.
Of course. If Zhuang Rui were to win the bid, he wouldn't sell it. The items carved from this piece of jade would perfectly fill the gap in Qin Ruilin's mid-to-low-end jadeite jewelry business in Beijing. If we disregard the limited variety of colors and textures, this piece of jade alone would be enough to sustain Qin Ruilin's mid-range jewelry business for more than two years.
"So cheap? Only 20,000?"