BEIJING, Apirl 29 -- China's jewelry sector is expected to sparkle by more than 40 percent in five years on the back of the country's sizzling economy.

    Sales of diamond, gold, platinum and other jewelry are set to top 200 billion yuan (US$25 billion) in China by 2010, Yang Sisan, secretary general of Gems and Jewelry Trade Association of China, said yesterday in Shanghai.

    "China's jewelry market will post a sound growth, above the blistering economic growth in the future," Yang said.

    The country's jewelers raked in sales of 140 billion yuan in 2005, a year- on-year rise of 15 percent, according to the Beijing-based association, whose more than 1,000 members hold close to 80 percent of the market.

    Shanghai, China's biggest jewelry market, posted jewelry sales of 13 billion yuan last year, taking almost 10 percent of the country's total.

    The National Gemstone Testing Center, the country's top jewelry examining body, will also open a Shanghai laboratory to help boost the Shanghai market.

    The 1,000-square-meter lab, which is scheduled to open on May 8, will give jewelers and consumers an official platform to settle disputes over quality of jewelry products.

    A similar lab has already been set up in Shenzhen, the country's jewelry processing center. The association will also hold the biggest jewelry fair in east China in Shanghai annually together with the country's gold and diamond exchanges to further boost the city's position as the nation's major jewelry center.

    The fair, which will cover 23,000 square meters, will be more than double the scale of former fairs in the city with more big names in the industry slated to take part.

    A new rule, which analysts say is expected within a month, that will cut the value-added tax on diamonds from 17 percent to 4 percent is likely to boost the market in the country.

    (Source: Shanghai Daily)