In Turkey in the recent 10 years The exports of the jewelry that are made of valuable metals has increased importantly. Together with this increase,  the sequence of Turkey in the industry has gone up and Turkey became one of the leaders in this issue.  In the hand of the jewelry sector in Turkey has in hand the capacity to work on 400 tones of gold and 200 tones of silver each year and turn them into jewelry, however this capacity is not being used in whole.  In the world Turkey has the 5^th place in jewelry processing and the jewelry authorities in the world are pointing Turkey as a competitor to Italy.  The production and the record figures taking place in the international publications verifies this situation.

Currently there are more than 50 big companies who employ between 200-1500 employees.  The valuable metals and jewelry sector, which takes an important place among the production industry of Turkey, provides employment approximately to 250.000 people.

The golden jewelry production center is Istanbul. However in Ankara and in İzmir the sector’s production continues with speed.  Also in some cities which are in the East and South East Anatolia regions, jewelry production is proceeded with.  In year 1995 a Gold Stock market was established in Istanbul  and in 2002 a gold refinery started production.

Semi-Valuable Stones of Turkey
Together with the fact that it does nor have a precise description, the minerals and the semi-valuable stones used in the jewelry and decoration sector, which are other than, diamond, ruby, sapphire, emerald, are classified as semi-valuable stones.  The semi-valuable stones  are mainly used in the production of jewelry and decoration goods.  The minerals and the stones which are mainly used with silver in jewelry making, are described a semi valuable stones.  Some special stones (jet, opal etc.) even though being used with gold but as a habit to use them widely in the world was not created are also classified among  the semi-valuable stone group.

Some of the valuable stones which started to attract interest especially in the recent years in the Jewelry sector, are found in Turkey; as the geological formation conditions are considered,  it is a high probability that some other stones can also be found in Turkey. However,  in order to provide a more healthy of making use of the semi valuable stones for which there is a production potential in Turkey, first of all, the education on the subject should be spread widely and those citizens at those places where these stones are found should be made aware of the subject.

As the ateliers in Ankara, İstanbul  and İzmir do the simple cuttings and shaping and carvings on the stones; some small scaled companies in the semi valuable stones and metals market, are doing the production activities.  The purpose of the investments made in our country in the last 10 years,  is to establish the facilities which will perform the excavations for the semi valuable stones.  The KOSGEB’s project for realizing jewelry production in Kars city from natural glass, sets an examplefor the mentioned subject facilities.

TURKISH VALUABLE MINERALS AND JEWELRY EXPORTS
The Turkish golden jewelry sector tended to exports in the recent years. Even though the golden jewelry exportation is a new item in the exports of Turkey, with the performance it has  it became to be a sector which has a high value.  The jewelry production of Turkish gold in 1992 has been 2,8 million $ and in 2006 it reached 1.17 Billion $. As per the official records  jewelry and goods production made of gold was realized to be 85.5 tones in year 2006. However when we consider the sales made to those tourists which buy products for their selves during their visits, it is estimated that the total exports is over 150 tones.

With the harmonization of modern design understanding and the accumulation of the upper level information and technology, Turkish gold and jewelry products are being exported to totally 141 countries.  When we look at the export figures of year 2006, it is seen that 270.6 million $ of exports is realized and USA is our most important market in jewelry exportation. Following USA; the first three places belong to UAE with 162,9 million $, Sweden with 121,2 million $, Italy with 57,2 million $. Germany, Spain, Russian Federation, Israel, Poland and Latvia are the other countries which have an important place in our exports.