India’s Polished Diamond Exports Fall 8.2% in Fiscal 08-09

India exported $1.14 billion worth of polished diamonds in March, bringing fiscal exports to $13.02 billion. Battling falling demand for polished goods, mostly in the U.S. market, India’s exports fell 23.9 percent in March and 8.2 percent in fiscal 2008-09.

The sharp fall in March exports is an outcome of the global economic crisis that is affecting diamond and diamond jewelry sales and causing a drop in prices.

According to provisional data published on Wednesday by the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), March exports of 3.923 million carats carried an average value of $290.60 per carat compared with $342.26 p/c in March 2008.

Fiscal exports of 40.21 million carats averaged $323.91 p/c compared with $329.56 p/c, a modest decline.

Polished diamond imports in March also declined, falling 16.6 percent to $616 million on imports of 2.4 million carats.

On an annual basis, imports rose, growing 27.7 percent to $6.974 billion on shipments of 23.217 million carats.

“The industry has undergone challenging times,” said GJEPC Chairman Vasant Mehta. ”In spite of slowdown, in the second half [of the year] the industry achieved a flat growth and performed reasonably close to its target of $21.9 billion.”

Speaking of affect of the economic slowdown on the Indian diamond industry, Mehta spoke of the support the industry and the GJEPC has extend to support and aid to the affected workers. “The gem and jewelry Industry today enjoys a leadership position globally in manufacturing of diamonds, which is attributed to the in house expertise of cutting and polishing. The reallocation of workers to any other sector would mean developing skill and competence all over again.”