India’s Gem and Jewellery Exports Dip 10% in August

India’s overall exports of gems and jewellery dropped by 10.07% in August 2019, reaching US$ 2.34 billion as against US$ 2.60 billion in August 2018, according to provisional data released by The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC).

While cut and polished diamond exports declined by 24.86% year-on-year totalling US$ 1.64 billion during the month (August 2018: US$ 2.18 bn), gold jewellery (plain and studded) exports were up by 5.58% y-o-y touching US$ 910.87 million during August as against US$ 862.72 million the same month a year ago, the data indicated.

Rough imports during the month fell by 4.27% to US$ 861.13 million as compared to US$ 899.58 million imported during the previous August. In volume terms however, rough imports rose sharply from 7.76 mn carats during August 2018 to 11.51 mn carats in August 2019.

Imports of cut and polished diamonds declined 8.58% to US$ 113.33 mn in August 2019 from US$ 123.97 mn in the same month a year earlier.

Exports of rough diamonds totalled US$ 120.15 million in August 2019 as compared to US$ 115.74 mn a year earlier, while exports of rough lab grown diamonds stood at US$ 0.70 million in August 2019. Exports of polished lab-grown diamonds stood at US$ 37.35 mn during the month as against US$ 15.16 mn a year earlier.

Imports of rough lab grown diamonds stood at US$ 15.34 mn, up from US$ 14.11 mn a year ago, while imports of polished lab grown diamonds rose to US$ 18.39 mn in August 2019 as compared to US$ 5.92 mn a year earlier.

Exports of silver jewellery rose to US$ 100.43 million in August 2019 as compared to US$ 72.36 million in the same month last year.

Coloured gemstone exports fell marginally to US$ 26.57 million in August 2019 as compared to US$ 30.14 million exported during the same month a year earlier.

For the first five months of the current fiscal, total net exports of the gems and jewellery industry declined by 7.04% as compared to the same period a year earlier from US$ 13.34 billion during April-August 2018 to US$ 12.40 billion in the same period of the current year. Imports across the sector during first quarter of fiscal 2020 were down 16.67% from US$ 12.02 billion last year to US$ 10.02 billion this year.

Polished diamond exports during April-August 2019 were down 19.01% to US$ 8.34 bn as against the US$ 10.30 bn exported over the same months last year, while imports of polished diamonds fell by 16.48% to US$ 505.94 million as compared to US$ 605.73 million for the same period of the previous year.

During the fiscal year to date, import of rough diamonds showed a decline of 25.07% to US$ 5.37 bn from US$ 7.16 bn a year earlier. In volume terms, imports fell by 12.70% from 68.56 mn cts in April-August 2018 to 59.86 mn cts in the same period in the current fiscal.

In April-July 2019, exports of gold jewellery (both plain and studded) dipped to US$ 5.02 bn as against US$ 5.24 bn during the first five months of the previous fiscal.

Exports of rough diamonds totalled US$ 563.95 million in April-August 2019 as compared to US$ 517.72 mn a year earlier, while exports of rough lab grown diamonds stood at US$ 6.52 mn in April-August 2019 as against US$ 5.39 mn in the same period a year earlier. Exports of polished lab-grown diamonds stood at US$ 158.27 mn during the April-August 2019 period as against US$ 79.24 mn a year earlier.

Imports of rough lab grown diamonds stood at US$ 64.40 mn in the first five months of the fiscal, marginally higher than the US$ 56.12 mn a year ago, while imports of polished lab grown diamonds rose to US$ 89.60 mn in April-August 2019 as compared to US$ 29.02 mn a year earlier.

Exports of silver jewellery rose steeply to US$ 436.65 million, and Coloured Gemstones exports dropped to US$ 131.06 million in April-August 2019.