MYANMAR’S fourth gem and jade sale of the year that ended October 29 was the biggest in country’s history, officials from the Myanma Gems Enterprise said last week.

Some 2669 jade lots out of 4200 on offer were sold during the 11-day emporium, as well 40 gem lots out of 468 displayed, and 135 pearl lots out of a total of 291, according to a high-ranking official with the MGE who requested not to be named.

The sale was spread over both the Myanmar Convention Centre and the MGE headquarters in Yangon due to the amount of jade on offer, which exceeded the country’s previously largest jade sale in July by about 1000 lots.

While earnings from the auction have not been released, an MGE official suggested it may have brought in more than 98 million euros (US$125 million) in much-needed foreign currency.

“We estimate that we can earn more from this sale than the previous biggest sale in July,” an MGE official told AFP.

The enterprise has officially refused to say how much the government earned at its last auction in July, but estimates previously leaked to the media put the total at 98 million euros.

“The jade lots sold very well because of more Chinese merchants from mainland China attending the (most recent) emporium,” an MGE official told The Myanmar Times.

Gem lots, however, performed poorly, with less than 10 percent on offer being sold. Gem experts said this was largely due to fewer Thai traders – who are usually the biggest gem buyers – at the emporium after their country’s September 19 military coup.

The MGE said more than 3000 local and foreign traders at the sale set a new record for attendance at the emporiums, which the MGE has been holding with increasing frequency in recent years.