New York: The number of jewellery businesses operating in the U.S. fell 6 percent last year as more than 1,000 retailers closed down or merged with competitors.

The drop took the total number of U.S. firms listed by the Jewellers Board of Trade (JBT) to 26,725 at the end of 2016, the industry association said.

The number of businesses that ceased operations – meaning their closure was not due to financial failure or a merger – leapt 63 percent to 1,518 during the year. Cases of consolidation, including mergers or takeovers, increased 3.5 percent to 118. Meanwhile, there were just 33 bankruptcies during the year, a 15 percent decline from 2015.

Within the jewelry trade, the manufacturing sector contracted at the highest rate, with total closures more than doubling to 150 from 59 in the previous year. Terminations in the wholesale segment jumped 85 percent to 250, while the number of jewellery retailers that closed increased 43 percent to 1,269, JBT reported.