Burma gems auction earns record $2.8 bn

Mar 27, 2011 |

Rangoon

Burma has earned more than $2.8 billion from the sale of jade, gems and pearls at its annual gems auction, held this month in the capital, Naypyitaw.
The weekly Voice news magazine says 16,939 lots of jade, 206 lots of gems and 255 lots of pearls were sold through competitive bidding to fetch the record-high revenue for the sale.

The auction, organised by the mines ministry, is a major foreign exchange earner for the military-dominated government, which faces economic and political sanctions from the West because of its poor human rights record. Burma is one of the world’s biggest producers of jade, as well as the source of up to 90 per cent of its rubies.
—AP

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