A conglomerate of pearl companies from China's Hong Kong and mainland is planning to build the world's largest pearl trading center in coastal Zhejiang Province in eastern China, a Hong Kong businessman from one of the companies told Xinhua in Las Vegas Monday.

A presentation detailing the ambitious project, called China Pearls and Jewelry City (CPJC), has drawn the attention of hundreds of jewelry merchants attending the world's largest jewelry exhibition being held here.

The CPJC will be a large-scale, modernized and one-stop trading platform for pearl and jewelry manufacturers, wholesalers and suppliers from all around the world, said Rciky Cheng, chairman of Man Sang Group.

Situated in Zhuji city, the CPJC is jointly developed by Man Sang Group from Hong Kong and six major leading pearl companies from Zhejiang.

Cheng said that the CPJC is planned to occupy an area of approximate 1.2 million square meters and host about 5,000 shops and booths upon completion of all phases of construction.

He said the center is aiming to become a gigantic, modernized, multi-functional and well-equipped trading platform for all industrial players in the pearl and jewelry industry.

"Major product lines to be traded at the center will range from raw pearls and pearl products, including freshwater pearls, South Sea pearls and Tahitian pearls, to jewelry products made of gold, platinum, silver, diamonds, gemstones and semi-precious stones," he said.

"It will also provide a comprehensive range of services to facilitate manufacturing, processing, assembling, research and development, exhibiting, designing, wholesaling, ordinary and bonded warehousing, delivering, e-commerce, convention exhibiting and all the way down to a full range of related professional services", Cheng added.

The pearl industry, a traditional and national endeavor in China, is regarded as one of the fastest growing industries in Zhejiang Province.

Pearl cultivation farms in Zhuji occupy a total area of over 250 million square meters, with over 3,000 pearl cultivation companies hiring about 15,000 employees, churning out over 30 million pieces of pearl jewelry, 8 million pieces of pearl handicrafts and 65 tones of pearl powder annually.

Over 20 companies have an annual turnover of 50 million RMB ( about 6.3 million U.S. dollars) each and eight companies over a hundred million RMB each. Among the pearl products, medium- to high-quality pearls, with an annual output of 300 tones, account for 73 percent of the world's output of freshwater pearls.

Source: Xinhua