The third annual jade auction will be held in Myitkyina in February next year, the Kachin State Jade Association has announced.
Yitnang Zelum, chairperson of the association, told KNG that the state government has formed the eight-person organizing committee for the auction. Among the members are the chair himself, a representative from the jade office in Myitkyina, the deputy-directors of the General Administration Department, and the immigration and customs departments, the manager of the Myanmar Economic Bank and the director of the taxation department.
“We cannot hold the jade auction in December because we have only a short time left in December. We don’t have enough time to bring the jade from Hpakant to Myitkyina,” he said.
More than 2,000 jade lots will be placed up for sale at the auction, organized by quality. The grades given to jade range from A to D. Only lower quality C and D-grade jade was shown in auctions in 2018 and 2019. Nearly 300 jade lots were shown in previous auctions in Myitkyina.
Holding the jade auction in Kachin State is an effort to create an official domestic market for the stone.
While sales of jade at the February auction must use kyat, Yitnang Zelum said that in the fourth jade auction, there is talk of foreign currency being allowed.
More than 1 billion kyat worth of jade was sold in the first jade auction in Kachin State and 6 billion in the second.
