GJEPC Chairman Pandya Sees Benefits from Trump Presidency for Diamond Exports

(IDEX Online) – India, which polishes close to 90 percent of the world's diamonds in volume terms, believes a Donald Trump presidency will bring about an expansion of the US market at a time when Asian buying of luxury stones is declining.

India expects to export 10 percent to 15 percent more polished diamonds to the U.S. in the fiscal year beginning April, growth similar to that seen in 2016, on the belief that a Trump presidency will reinvigorate the world’s largest economy, according to Praveen Shankar Pandya, chairman of the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council.

“More jobs are being created in America and they would spend more money on jewelry," said Pandya. "It is already a big market, it’s going to be bigger. From 2008, the market took a beating and now it is again going up,” he said.

In the eight months through November, India’s exports jumped 12 percent on the year to $15.4 billion, he told Bloomberg, while rough imports surged by almost a third over the period. Some gems exported to Hong Kong, the gateway to China, are also routed to the U.S., making it India’s biggest market, said Pandya.

The recovery in the US market, which accounts for almost half of global diamond demand, saw orders over Christmas double from the year before, said Pandya.

The move westward comes as Chinese demand flattens along with its economic growth and India’s black money curbs in November tighten disposable income. Indian sales “should come back only by the next marriage season after September,” Pandya said. “People would have found out the ways and means to do cashless transactions by then.”

Demand for luxury goods in China has slowed as a result of the country’s anti-corruption campaign and a weak yuan that has made imports more expensive, said Vipul Shah, managing director of Asian Star Co. Ltd.

“The focus is moving from east to west, as the only center that is really promising for the industry right now is the US," he said.