Today the quality of Akoya pearls coming out of China has become so high that the high-end of a Chinese harvest is equivalent to that of a Japanese harvest.
In the market of smaller than 8mm pearl,Chinese Akoya pearls have overwhelming advantages than Japanenes. And 90% of them harvest in China. But Chinese have limited success culturing 8.5mm and larger Akoya pearls, and this has given the Japanese market a niche on which it heavily capitalizes. To date only 8.5mm or larger Akoya pearls actually harvest in Japan.
However,For small Akoya pearls,it is nearly impossibly to determine the actual origin of the pearls in a specific necklace of this size. A little known secret of the Japanese pearling industry is that the industry is the largest importer of Chinese cultured Akoya pearls today. They purchase these pearls loose, or on temporary hanks, import them to Japan, process them with pearl treatments in Japan, and sell them as Japanese pearls. Although this may seem dishonest to many, as the end result is a much higher price for identical product, it is similar to many manufacturing operations. When a consumer buys a product which is made in the USA, how often does this mean more than the product was simply assembled in the USA?
Chinese pearls are just as valuable as Japanese, and it only makes fiscal sense to purchase smaller pearls from Chinese companies and larger pearls from Japanese.
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