Sindh floods: sharp fall in sale of artificial jewellery witnessed

Floods have caused a sharp fall in sale of artificial jewellery as demand from upper Sindh has dropped considerably, artificial jewellery dealers said. Rural areas account for 60 per cent demand of artificial jewellery and for purchasing of artificial jewellery a significant number of dealers and suppliers visit Karachi, which has come to almost standstill.
Floods have affected sale of large number of items which have huge demand in rural areas and cities in upper Sindh including artificial jewellery. People in upper Sindh facing enormous problems to feed and mating families in present floods and they cannot afford to go for luxury of artificial jewellery in present circumstances.
Some of the dealers said that the wedding season has kicked-off in the country still the demand has not picking up as it is picked up usually during wedding season in the past. They claimed that beside floods prevailing law-and-order condition, increase in prices of artificial jewellery and power outages have hit hard the sale of artificial jewellery business.
They further said that that artificial jewellery has now become more expensive because of the increasing prices of the gold in the domestic and international markets as well as increase in prices of oil and power tariff. Purchasing power of general public also affected and they do not have sufficient finances due to their very thin incomes as against surging daily expenses which do not allow them to think of buying gold luxury items.
A normal set of the artificial jewellery was available at Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,800 a few months ago and it is now range between Rs 5,000 to Rs 7,000. Besides Chinese, the Indian jewellery has also set a good impression in the local market and the consumers prefer to buy the Indian jewellery because of its good quality and styles. The artificial jewellery including bangles, necklace, bracelets, gem and many other are available at almost Karachi's every big market.