India Rough Diamond Imports Rise 12.6% in November

India’s rough diamond imports have surprisingly increased in November, even though the country’s diamond industry collectively decided to decrease imports. Imports totaled $599.61 million, rising 12.63 percent over rough diamond imports in November 2007, according to provisional data published by the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council.

The sharp increase in imports outpaces the annual rate of rising rough diamond imports that stands at 10.2 percent.

A number of explanations can be found to the rise in imports, one of them could be ‘preparations’ ahead of the ban on rough diamond imports that commenced on November 25. The ban on imports is to last a month.

In terms of volume, India imported 8.147 million carats in November versus 9.63 million carats imported in November 2007, a 15.4 percent decline. This translates to a sharp rise in the average value, jumping to $73.6 per carat compared to $55.3 p/c the year before.

Rough diamond exports totaled $42.75 million on shipments of 1.107 million carats. This is compared to $41.5 million and 1.672 million carats exported in November 2007.