India’s gem and jewellery exports dip 10% in August: GJEPC

New Delhi, Sep 24 (KNN) India’s overall exports of gems and jewellery dropped by 10.07% in August 2019, reaching USD 2.34 billion as against USD 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 USD 1.64 billion during the month, gold jewellery (plain and studded) exports were up by 5.58% y-o-y touching USD 910.87 million during August as against USD 862.72 million the same month a year ago, the data indicated.

Rough imports during the month fell by 4.27% to USD 861.13 million as compared to USD 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, said GJEPC. 

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

Exports of rough diamonds totalled USD 120.15 million in August 2019 as compared to USD 115.74 mn a year earlier, while exports of rough lab grown diamonds stood at USD 0.70 million in August 2019.

Exports of polished lab-grown diamonds stood at USD 37.35 mn during the month as against USD 15.16 mn a year earlier.

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

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

Coloured gemstone exports fell marginally to USD 26.57 million in August 2019 as compared to USD 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 USD 13.34 billion during April-August 2018 to USD 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 USD 12.02 billion last year to USD 10.02 billion this yea, GJEPC added. 

Polished diamond exports during April-August 2019 were down 19.01% to USD 8.34 bn as against the USD 10.30 bn exported over the same months last year, while imports of polished diamonds fell by 16.48% to USD 505.94 million as compared to USD 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 USD 5.37 bn from USD 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 USD 5.02 bn as against USD 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 USD 517.72 mn a year earlier, while exports of rough lab grown diamonds stood at USD 6.52 mn in April-August 2019 as against USD 5.39 mn in the same period a year earlier. Exports of polished lab-grown diamonds stood at USD 158.27 mn during the April-August 2019 period as against USD 79.24 mn a year earlier.

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

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