Prompted by rocketing prices, many seek opportunities to buy as many sapphires as possible in Changle

When Zhou Weixia left her job as a bank clerk to conduct sapphire trading with her husband, she had no idea the price of the local stone would skyrocket more than 50 times over the last decade.

A worker processing a rough sapphire at a workshop in Changle, Shandong province. The small county has become one of the world's major sapphire production areas.[Photo/China Daily]

But now the 28-year-old from Changle county in East China's Shandong province, one of the world's major sapphire production areas, is seeking opportunities to buy and store as much sapphire as possible, betting that the price will keep increasing to a new high in coming years.

"I paid 20,000 yuan ($3,175) in 2007 for a 24-carat sapphire and I refused to sell it when someone offered 400,000 yuan just a few days ago," said Zhou, dressed in a luxurious fur coat, as she pointed at a sparkling blue stone.

"It's very hard to find such a fine star-sapphire (a rare type of gem displaying a pattern of stars) now. The price will stay high. I won't take less than 700,000 yuan," Zhou said.

Ten years ago the average price of a one-carat sapphire was only dozens of yuan on the local market, but now a one-carat general sapphire may cost 2,000 to 5,000 yuan and high quality stones cost at least a five-digit figure for each carat, according to Zhou.