India’s exports of cut and polished diamond registered $ 389.04 mln compared to $1864.56 mln during May 2019,
a decline of 79.13%, according to provisional data released by The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) of India.
As a result of the total closure of all manufacturing units for virtually the whole of April and the partial reopening of only a few units in May, there were almost no exports/imports during April. In May, exports to China, Europe and Australia showed some growth, but the US and the Middle East continued to be impacted due to COVID-19.
So, the exports of polished diamonds showed a decline of 79.17% during April-May 2020, totalling $ 389.07 mln as against $1.87 bln during April-May 2019.
Rough imports during the two months also fell drastically by 93.98% to $ 80.64 mln as compared to $ 1,339.44 mln imported during April-May 2019.
Imports of cut and polished diamonds stood at $ 107.85 mln in the first two months of FY2021, down from $ 139.34 mn in the corresponding period a year earlier.
Exports of rough diamonds totalled $ 2.13 mln in April-May 2020 as compared to $ 95.04 mln in the same period during 2019.
Exports of polished lab-grown diamonds stood at $ 3.62 mln during the Apl-May 2020 as against $ 35.64 mln a year earlier.
Imports of rough lab-grown diamonds stood at $ 2.93 mln during the two months, down from $ 25.04 mln a year ago.
Imports of polished lab-grown diamonds declined to $ 0.75 mln in April-May 2020 as compared to $ 8.94 mln a year earlier.
Aruna Gaitonde, Editor in Chief of the Asian Bureau, Rough & Polished
