Jewellery Manufacturing Industry

The Jewelery manufacturing industry at present employs approximately 15,000 persons of which around 10,000 are registered individual craftsmen while the rest are employed in factories and workshops producing Jewelery mainly for the export market. There may be around 1,500 unregistered employees working under registered craftsmen. About 60% of the Jewelery workshops and craftsmen are located mainly in the rural areas of Southern and Central provinces and in pockets in the North Western, Eastern and Northern provinces. 30% and 10% of Jewelery workshop are located in Suburban and Urban areas respectively. The Jewelery manufacturing industry in Sri Lanka mainly consists of three sectors such as manufacturing for exports, local market and tourists’ trade. Sri Lanka’s main markets for Jewelery are China, Japan, Germany, USA, UK, Singapore and Hong Kong. During recent times, silver Jewelery studded with semi- precious moonstones and mildly precious stones have gained popularity.

A large number of traditional Jewelery have adopted themselves to produce modern designs particularly for the German market. Jewelery design and manufacturing industry of Sri Lanka has undergone numerous changes during the past few decades. The use of computer software to create modern designs and casting Jewelery for bulk production has now become a standard practice in the Industry.