New Delhi, July 18 (KNN) Exports of cut and polished diamonds from India dropped by 19.38% year-on-year during the month of June 2019, while gold jewellery exports registered a decline of 15.41% y-o-y during the same month, according to provisional data released by Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC).

Exports of cut and polished diamonds stood at USD 1.68 billion, a decline of 19.38% as compared to the USD 2.08 bn exported in June 2018. Rough imports dropped during the month by 36.79% to USD 969.15 million as compared to USD 1,533.23 million imported during the previous June.

In volume terms also, rough imports fell from 15.45 mn carats during June 2018 to 10.91 mn carats in June 2019.Imports of cut and polished diamonds declined 24.59% to USD 106.40 mn in June 2019 from USD 141.10 mn in the same month a year earlier.

For the first quarter of the current fiscal, total net exports of the gems and jewellery industry declined by 9.97% as compared to the same period a year earlier from USD 8.04 billion during April-June 2018 to USD 7.23 billion in the same period of the current year.

Imports across the sector during first quarter of fiscal 2020 were down 18.92% from USD 7.63 billion last year to USD 6.19 billion this year.

Polished diamond exports during April-June 2019 were down 17.33% to USD 5.20 bn as against the USD 6.29 bn exported over the same months last year, while imports of polished diamonds fell by 20.11% to USD 278.47 million as compared to USD 348.55 million for the same period of the previous year.

During the fiscal year to date, import of rough diamonds showed a decline of 25.78% to USD 3.41 bn from USD 4.60 bn a year earlier. In volume terms, imports fell by 24.98% from 47.78 mn cts in April-June 2018 to 35.84 mn cts in the same period in the current fiscal.

Exports of gold jewellery during the month fell by 15.41% to USD 913.88 million from USD 1,080.38 million a year earlier. Exports of silver jewellery rose to USD 70.51 million in June 2019 as compared to USD 40.58 million in the same month last year.

Coloured gemstone exports fell to USD 24.52 million in June 2019 as compared to USD 40.78 million exported during the same month a year earlier.

In April-June 2019, exports of gold jewellery (both plain and studded) dipped to USD 3.03 bn as against USD 3.24 bn during the first three months of the previous fiscal.

Exports of silver jewellery nearly doubled to USD 237.01 million, and Coloured Gemstones exports fell by 11.82% to USD 86.02 million in April-June 2019.