YANGON, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar will hold its sixth International Pearl Auction in China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region starting Friday, the official Global New Light of Myanmar reported Thursday.
In the three-day pearl auction with the aim of penetrating the international pearl market, Myanmar pearls of high value, produced from Myeik, the country's southern coastal Tanintharyi region, will be displayed.
Myanmar holds three pearl auctions annually, once in local currency, one in foreign currency at home, and the third abroad.
Myanmar sold more than 200,000 pearls annually in the last five years.
In the last pearl auction at Myanmar Gems Emporium held in August 2017, almost all available pearl lots were sold out for a total revenue of about 2.3 million euros (3 million U.S. dollars), up from the previous event in December 2016 when 358 pearl lots out of 406 were sold, earning about 1.894 million U.S. dollars.
Myanmar was renowned for its South Sea pearls in the 1800s when "sea gypsies" dived for natural pearls around 800 islands of the Myeik Archipelago in the far south of the country.
The pearl auctions has been held in the country since 1964 for 90 times, earning a total revenue of 115 million U.S. dollars as of August 2017.
