The same holds true for the gem and jewelry industry: For years a global manufacturing hub, China is emerging as the strongest consumer market for luxury products such as jewelry. Chinese consumers are now synonymous with luxury products, and this is true with gemstones and jewelry.
Pure gold is so soft it is rarely used in jewelry. Jewelers deal with various gold alloys, collectively called karat gold. Karat (K) tells the number of parts, by weight, of gold in 24 parts of alloy. The higher the percentage of pure gold, the higher the karat. Pure gold is 24K; 18K is 18 parts fine gold and 6 parts metal; 14K is 14 parts fine gold and 10 parts metal; and 10K is 10 parts fine gold and 14 parts other metal. A diamond certificate is a report that attests to the authenticity of a diamond.
A karat is 1/24 part of pure gold by weight, so 24-karat gold is pure gold. To find the percentage of gold in an object when the purity is stated in karats, multiply the number of karats by 100 and divide by 24. For example, 12-karat gold is 50 percent pure gold.