According to provisional data from the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council, India’s polished diamond exports declined 15 per cent to $1.32 billion year-on-year in November. By volume, polished exports dropped 16 per cent to 2.2 million carats.
Additionally, polished imports plummeted 72 per cent to $147.4 million, leaving net exports (polished exports minus imports) 14 per cent higher at $1.17 billion.
Conversely, rough diamond imports plunged 60 per cent to $624.9 million, while rough exports slumped 34 per cent to $62.1 million. This left net imports 61 per cent lower at $562.8 million. As a result, India’s net diamond account—the difference between net polished exports and net rough imports—increased from negative $422 million in November 2014 to positive $612.1 million this year.
Rapaport News found that for the first 11 months of the calendar year, India’s polished diamond exports declined 10 per cent year-on-year to $19.42 billion, while polished imports fell 53 per cent to $3.13 billion. Net polished exports increased 8 per cent to $16.29 billion.
Additionally, rough imports dropped 25 per cent to $12.08 billion, while rough exports decreased 26 per cent to $1.03 billion, leaving net imports 24 per cent lower at $11.05 billion. India’s net diamond account for the January through November period soared to $5.24 billion, as compared with $389 million one year earlier. CJ
