India's Rough Imports Slashed by More Than A Third, As Prices Lose 16%

(IDEX Online News) – Another month of sinking rough diamond imports by the diamond sector in India. Imports of $1.2 billion worth of rough are a 36.3 percent decline in July compared to July 2011 when the sector imported $1.89 billion worth of rough.

Polished diamond prices peaked in July of last year, and rough diamonds were in high demand at that time. Since then, demand for polished dropped and demand for rough – as well as its price – has declined with it.

The average value of imports fell 16.3 percent to $99.14 per carat, based on provisional figures released by the GJEPC.

However not all is bad. Compared to June, imports have increased 1.7 percent by value and 6.7 percent by volume, the second month of month-over-month increases, indicating that the industry is possibly slowly climbing out of the downturn.

Indian traders imported 12.1 million carats of rough in July, compared to 15.9 million carats in July 2011.

Rough diamond exports, expectedly, also took a sharp turn down, dropping 42.7 percent to $82.6 million year-over-year, during July.