Who Makes Akoya Pearls?
Akoya pearls originally gained popularity in Japan. Japan was the chief exporter of quality Akoya Pearls until China began to culture their own Akoya molluscs. Today China is the number one exporter of Akoya Pearls with Japan mainly concentrating on higher quality pearls. Today expensive high quality pearls of sizes sometimes exceeding 10mm are being exported out of Japan. While China ships hundreds of tons of Akoya Pearls smaller than 7mm.
