• The first of a series of initiatives adopted by the "Poe Rava Nui" consortium to revive the Black Pearl market was taken in 1992, when a more selective pearl sales strategy was implemented. This strategy consisted of sorting out the pearls into batches of various qualities and distributing them selectively to the appropriate customers. This more discriminating approach to pearls helped from 1992 onwards to slow down the drop in the sales prices of pearls, and some poor-quality batches were even withdrawn.

  Graph no.6, in which the sales price of pearls set by "Poe Rava Nui" is compared with that applied to the output as a whole, shows what a difference these efforts made. The graph begins with the 1985 statistics, which were the first to become available for this consortium. No figures have been provided by "Poe Rava Nui" for the period from 1997 to 1999.

  Interpretation:
  Since 1988, the mean price per gramme of the pearls auctioned by this consortium has always been higher than the average rates, although the curve shows a consistently downward slope.
  The crisis which hit the sector in 1991 was not felt as strongly as elsewhere by this consortium, which sold its pearls for 4016 CFP in 1995, as compared with the sum of only 2187 CFP which was fetched by the overall pearl exports (1 FCFP=0.055FF).

  "Poe Rava Nui" had previously set itself a minimum sales price of 4000 CFP in 1993. Below this price, it was assumed that the productivity of the pearl fisheries would be at stake, but after  the Japanese crisis in 1995, this minimum was no longer maintained.

  The strategy consisting of sorting out the pearls depending on their quality turned out to be fruitful according to the director of the Group, although it involved a strict selection. In 1992, for example, 36% of all the pearls harvested were rejected as being unsuitable for sale, as compared with only 13.7% in 1991 and 8% in 1990.

  This policy was supported in 1994 by the Polynesian Government, which helped indirectly to raise the prices briefly that year. A new tax was levied on the basis of the weight of the pearls rather than their number, and this favoured the production of better-quality batches.
  

• In parallel with its pearl selection policy, "Poe Rava Nui" made considerable efforts to encourage the production of  pearls of a higher quality in the atolls.

  This can be seen from the above analysis.

  A study based on the ratio between the number of pearls marketed between 1992 (when the first attempts to improve the value of pearls were made) and 1996 and the mean price of pearls per atoll fits the picture described above.

  Using a simple regression method, the correlations existing between Y, the number of pearls sold, and X, the mean annual sales price per pearl, were established for each of the atolls involved in the activities of "Poe Rava Nui.". This analysis was carried out for the key period 1992-1996.

  Graph no. 7 gives the regression line obtained for all the atolls involved in the activity of this E.I.G. during this period. The coefficient of correlation r obtained was 0.85, which is a fairly high value, since a value of 0.90  was taken to reflect a strong correlation, and a value of 0.50, a weak correlation.

  Graph no. 7b  was based on similar calculations, but the choice of atolls was different in this case, since only the first four (accounting for 55% of this Group's total pearl sales) and the last three in terms of the number of pearls sold during this period were included here. The correlation between the variables was even stronger here, since the coefficient of correlation r reached a value of 0.97.
  

  What conclusions can be drawn from this study?

  The policy adopted by "Poe Rava Nui" with a view to improving the quality of the pearl supply  by grading the pearls led to some of the output being withdrawn from the market. The atolls producing the most valuable pearls (those selling at around 8000 CFP each) were able to market their output more readily, and were therefore also those where the production increased most strongly, from 29% of the total output in 1991 to  56.6% in 1995. These atolls were Les Gambiers,  Hao and Makemo.

  Other atolls on the contrary, such as Ahe, Apataki and Kaukura, whose pearls were selling for less than 5000 CFP, accounted for only very small, decreasing proportions of the total market. In the case of Ahe, for example, the pearl sales amounted to 2.9% of the total sales figures in 1991, and dropped to only 1.5% in 1996.

All the above consortia, especially "Poe Rava Nui" and "Tahiti Pearl Producer", organise regular auction sales in Tahiti, which the leading local and international pearl traders are invited to attend.

• The "Poe Rava Nui" auction sales: 

  Since 1977, "Poe Rava Nui" has been holding international auction sales every year in October. These sales relieve the pearl producers isolated in the atolls of the need to negotiate the sales prices themselves and enable them to benefit from the high reputation enjoyed by this consortium among the traders. The expenses involved in the sales, like the cost of running the Group itself, are covered mainly by the members' enrolment fees, which take the form of a fixed proportion of the auction sale proceeds.

  The results obtained at these auction sales year after year show what a successful attempt this initiative has been to organise the Tahitian pearl market and its suppliers and to improve the profits. In 1996, for example, 138 of the 152 batches up for sale went for a total sum of  464 million CFP.

  Over the years, the sales figures achieved by "Poe Rava Nui" have come to be regarded as the standard rates, in view the quality and the quantity of the pearls sold by this consortium. The international buyers have no hesitation in making the journey every year rather than keeping large stocks as they used to do until quite recently. The Group can therefore no longer restrict its sales activities to a single annual auction, and its  Board of Administrators has opened a sales department at the Group's Headquarters, in order to be able to satisfy its customers' requirements all year round.

   

• The "Tahiti Pearl Producer" auction sales:

  The "Tahiti Pearl Producer" consortium, which is a more recently created structure, held its first auction sales in April 1996 at the Papeete Town Hall. Despite the financial crisis which was rocking South-Eastern Asia at the time, the Group's third annual event in 1998 was a great success. It was attended by 27 local companies and 43 companies from other parts of the world. In 1998, only 19 pearl producers belonged to "Tahiti Pearl Producer", however. This explains why  29 500 of the 75 000 pearls on sale came from the "Poe Rava Nui" consortium. In the end, 66 832 pearls sorted into 114 batches were purchased that year for the total sum of 400 million CFP.

  The final amounts auctioned that year amounted to 50.18%, as against  28% in 1996 and 22% in 1997.

These two consortia, "Poe Rava Nui" and "Tahiti Pearl Producer", have begun to co-operate more closely by inaugurating a third international annual auction sales event, the first of which was to be held in 2000. Auction sales are now being held every four months (in February, June and October).

It should not be forgotten, however, that the praiseworthy attempts incontestably made by the two consortia mentioned above to organise and improve the pearl production and trading practices involved only 10 to 15% of the whole sector, depending on the year under consideration.