India’s gross exports of cut and polished diamonds continued to remain below last year’s levels, but the decline during the month of December 2019 at 4.54% year on year, was significantly less than last month, according to provisional data released by The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC). Gold jewellery (plain and studded) exports remained stable with a marginal increase of 0.82%.

During December 2019, cut and polished diamond exports totalled US$ 1.25 billion (December 2018: US$ 1.31 bn) and gold jewellery (plain and studded) exports stood at US$ 790.41 million as against US$ 784.01 million in the same month a year earlier, the data indicated.

Rough imports during the month also slipped, dropping by 7.63% to US$ 1.60 billion as compared to US$ 1.74 billion imported during the previous December. In volume terms, too, rough imports were down, dropping by 13.61% from 19.29 mn carats during December 2018 to 16.66 mn carats in December 2019.

Imports of cut and polished diamonds rose to US$ 152.26 mn in December 2019 from US$ 111.56 mn in the same month a year earlier.

Exports of rough diamonds totalled US$ 72.93 million in December 2019 as compared to US$ 105.63 mn a year earlier, with volumes at 1.94 mn cts, down from 2.37 mn cts a year earlier. Exports of polished lab-grown diamonds stood at US$ 36.01 mn during the month as against US$ 17.29 mn a year earlier.

Imports of rough lab grown diamonds stood at US$ 45.69 mn during the month, up from US$ 14.75 mn a year ago, while imports of polished lab grown diamonds rose to US$ 9.48 mn in December 2019 as compared to US$ 6.82 mn a year earlier.

Exports of silver jewellery rose to US$ 150.53 million in December 2019 as compared to US$ 79.79 million in the same month last year.

Coloured gemstone exports inched up marginally to US$ 18.66 million in December 2019 as compared to US$ 18.39 million exported during the same month a year earlier.

For the first nine months of the current fiscal, total gross exports of the gems and jewellery industry stood at US$ 27.69 billion as compared to US$ 28.26 billion in the same period of the previous year, a decline of 5.25%. Imports across the sector during first nine months of fiscal 2020 were down 6.52% from US$ 19.98 billion last year to US$ 18.68 billion this year.

Polished diamond exports during April-December 2019 were down 17.89% to US$ 14.67 bn as against the US$ 17.86 bn exported over the same months last year, while imports of polished diamonds rose by 2.55% to US$ 1.06 billion as compared to US$ 1.04 billion for the same period of the previous year.

During the fiscal year to date, import of rough diamonds showed a decline of 15.86% to US$ 10.16 bn from US$ 12.07 bn a year earlier. In volume terms, imports fell by 7.51% from 126.29 mn cts in April-December 2018 to 116.81 mn cts in the same period in the current fiscal.

In April-December 2019, exports of gold jewellery (both plain and studded) rose by 4.91% to US$ 9.32 bn as against US$ 8.88 bn during the first nine months of the previous fiscal.

Exports of rough diamonds totalled US$ 880.90 million in April-December 2019 as compared to US$ 929.84 mn a year earlier. Meanwhile, exports of rough lab grown diamonds stood at US$ 7.04 mn in April-December 2019 as against US$ 8.03 mn in the same period a year earlier. Exports of polished lab-grown diamonds stood at US$ 312.06 mn during the April-December 2019 period as against US$ 151.22 mn a year earlier.

Imports of rough lab grown diamonds stood at US$ 250.70 mn in the first nine months of the fiscal, up from imports of US$ 99.82 mn a year ago, while imports of polished lab grown diamonds rose to US$ 73.99 mn in April-December 2019 as compared to US$ 52.55 mn a year earlier.

Exports of silver jewellery rose steeply to US$ 1,020.77 million from US$ 582.44 mn a year ago, and Coloured Gemstones exports dropped to US$ 247.47 million in April-December 2019 as compared to exports of US$ 274.73 mn in the same months a year earlier.