India August Rough Diamond Prices Continue to Rise

Indian rough diamond imports declined in August while exports rose as the average price of rough diamonds grew by 14.4 percent, data from the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council web site showed.

The average price per carat of rough diamonds rose to $70.6 in August 2008 from $61.7 a year ago.

In value, India’s imports of rough diamonds dropped 2.6 percent to $664.5 million from $681.9 million in 2007, while the volume of imports dropped by a greater 14.8 percent to 9.42 million carats from 11.05 million carats a year earlier, illustrating a rise in the average per carat value of diamonds imported.

India’s rough diamond exports, however, rose 42.6 percent in value to $68.07 million in August from $47.72 million a year before, while volume increased by a lesser 28.93 percent to 3.12 million carats from 2.42 million carats in 2007, which further underlines the increase in per carat value of exports from a year earlier.

Between April and August India imported 698.03 million carats of rough diamonds worth $4.984 billion compared with 727.45 million carats worth $4.251 billion in 2007, representing a 17.2 percent increase in price versus a 4 percent decline in volume.