China, the world's second-biggest consumer of jewelry, needs to ramp up efforts to create more big-name brands in the jewelry sector to enhance its role in the global market, industry insiders said at a recent forum.

Total revenue from gold and jewelry sales on the Chinese mainland reached 610 billion yuan ($94.5 billion) last year, roughly the same as in 2019 despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chen Qizhou, president of the Gems and Jewelry Trade Association of China, told the Jewelry Shanghai 2021 forum on Thursday.

Organized by the association, the National Gemstone Testing Center and the Shanghai Diamond Exchange, the forum, aimed at finding a way to boost China's role in the global jewelry industry, was attended by entrepreneurs, experts and scholars.

"Thanks to the consumption upgrade in China, the industry has been developing well in the past three decades, and many popular jewelry brands have emerged, making the nation the world's second-largest jewelry consumer, with continuous improvement of quality, varieties and sales seen in the sector in recent years," Chen said.

Due to the country's effective control of the pandemic, the domestic jewelry market has grown rapidly this year, he said.

However, China's global jewelry trade volume fell 37.8 percent year-on-year last year.

Chen said the value of imports exceeded the value of exports by more than $10 billion.

"We should see that the construction of jewelry brands in China lags seriously behind economic development," he said. "The market performance indicates that our country has a strong consumption ability in jewelry, but a lack of world-renowned brands. There is a big gap between China and developed markets in brand building."

Zhan Jianwei, CEO of Zhejiang Oriental Shenzhou Pearl Group, said China produces 90 percent of the world's pearls, but its output value accounts for only 20 percent of the global pearl industry.

Before the development of the Edison pearl－a large, round, perfectly nucleated freshwater pearl－by Zhejiang Grace Jewelry Co in 2013, Zhan said "China's high-end pearls accounted for a very small proportion of the international market and there was no brand going out to the world either."

To remedy that, the National Jewelry Brand Cluster was launched in 2019 as part of China's efforts to create a number of well-known world brands with regional characteristics, Chen said.

"We will also help the Hainan Free Trade Port develop its jewelry industry, and leverage the port as an important platform for Chinese jewelry brands to promote themselves in the global market," he said.

To further develop the domestic market, Chen said "a brand-value evaluation standard will be out soon to help establish a fair, open and commonly recognized evaluation mechanism".

Other measures, including establishing pilot zones, enhancing ties with other major platforms such as the China International Import Expo and the China International Consumer Products Expo, cultivating more professionals and talent in the jewelry industry, and ramping up digital transformation among jewelry brands, will also be implemented at the same time to promote the jewelry industry, he said.

The four-day Jewelry Shanghai 2021 forum, which kicked off at Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center on Thursday, attracted more than 800 exhibitors this year.