India’s Rough Diamond Trade Slides in Fiscal 2008-09

The 23.2 percent drop in rough diamond imports reported on Wednesday underlines the harsh times the Indian diamond industry went through in fiscal 2008-09. With a weak U.S. market for polished diamonds, and reports of large stockpiling of polished goods, there is little reason to purchase rough diamonds.

India imported $311.34 worth of rough diamonds in March, a 56.8 percent year-over-year decline, while annual imports totaled just $7.525 billion compared to $9.8 billion imported the year before.

In terms of quantity, India imported 5.723 million carats in March with an average declared value of $54.40 per carat, compared to an average value of $61.01 per carat in March 2008 as rough diamond prices declined since October 2008.

Rough diamond exports were, however, somewhat up in fiscal 08-09, rising 1.45 percent to $21.12 billion. Indian traders shipped out 30.64 million carats at an average value of $689.31 per carat compared to exports of 28.7 million carats averaging $725.29 per carat in fiscal 2007-08.

March exports declined, as could be expected, dropping 16.8 percent to $1.79 billion on shipments of 2.24 million carats.