India will lead demand for natural diamonds in 2024, says David Kellie, CEO of Natural Diamond Council (NDC), as US buyers increasingly switch to lab grown.
“The Indian market remains the strongest growth market in the world because of its strong financial position and changing demographics,” he told The Economic Times, in India.
“Indian women are now financially stronger, and they are driving the demand. The key economic indicators in the US are not yet favourable for a demand recovery in diamond purchase.”
Kellie (pictured) predicts a polarization between the natural and lab grown markets, with a price difference currently at 80 per cent to 90 per cent.
Natural diamonds will become increasingly rare, he said, with no new mines in prospect, and with miners digging deeper, and spending more, to reach remaining deposits.
India has urged the Group of Seven (G7) countries to delay an incoming ban on Russian diamonds because the rules to trace the origins of gems remain unclear, two sources aware of the matter said.
India, home to 90% of the world’s diamond cutting and polishing industry, is critical to the implementation of the ban.
New Delhi has also sought more clarity in its talks with G7 leaders, said the sources, who did not wish to be identified because they are not authorised to talk to the media.
Earlier this month, G7 nations announced a direct ban on Russian diamonds starting Jan. 1, followed by phased-in restrictions on indirect imports of Russian gems from around March 1. A new system to trace the origin of the gems will be introduced in September.
Russia is the world’s biggest producer of rough diamonds by volume. New restrictions on the trade of Russian gems are part of the bloc’s broader measures designed to limit Moscow’s revenues that aid and fund its invasion of Ukraine.
“The timeline to start restrictions on indirect imports from Russia in three-four months is impractical, as the rules on how the origin for a gem will be traced are not clear,” one of the sources said.
India has also expressed its reservations over G7’s new “traceability-based verification and certification” system, which may require sharing of data about Indian businesses, the first source said.
Some data might be sensitive and businesses might not be comfortable with sharing such information, he said.
The federal trade ministry, which is involved in talks with G7 on proposed restrictions, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
India mostly processes smaller Russian diamonds, and that’s why the country expects minimal trade disruption, a government official said earlier this month.
Still, the proposed ban would impact the diamond supply chain, industry officials say.
India’s diamond sector already faces weaker demand. The country’s polished diamond exports fell 29% to $10 billion during the first seven months of the current fiscal year that began in April.
It exported polished diamonds worth more than $22 billion last fiscal year that ended on March 31. The industry, based mainly in the western state of Gujarat, employs millions of people across small and medium firms.
India saw a slump in polished-diamond exports but an increase in rough imports in October as global demand remained slow and manufacturers brought goods into the country ahead of a two-month shipment freeze.
Polished exports fell 33% year on year to $1.26 billion, the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) reported earlier this month. Inbound rough shipments rose 9% to $1.02 billion despite a two-month voluntary pause on imports aimed at reducing inventories. The policy came into effect on October 15.
A decline in rough prices ahead of the optional freeze and the Diwali holiday created an opportunity for Indian companies to buy, added GJEPC chairman Vipul Shah.
About the data: India, the world’s largest diamond-cutting center, is a net importer of rough and a net exporter of polished. As such, net polished exports — representing polished exports minus polished imports — will usually be a positive number. Net rough imports — calculated as rough imports minus rough exports — will also generally be in surplus. The net diamond account is total rough and polished exports minus total imports. It is India’s diamond trade balance, and shows the added value the nation creates by manufacturing rough into polished.
Indian jewelry giant Titan Company will up its stake in e-tailer CaratLane to 98%, acquiring the share it didn’t already own for INR 46.21 billion ($557.2 million).
Titan, which already owns 71% of the online jewelry retailer, plans to buy an additional 27% in an all-cash deal, it said Saturday in a notice to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). It intends to complete the buyout by October 31, subject to requisite approvals.
The deal values CaratLane at INR 170.01 billion ($2.05 billion), according to Rapaport calculations.
Incorporated in 2007, CaratLane operates in India and in the US through a local subsidiary. Titan first took a stake in the business in 2016.
The US has reportedly blocked $26m of payments made by Indian businesses attempting to buy rough diamonds from Russia.
OFAC, the Office of Foreign Assets Control, is said to have instructed banks in recent months to halt the transfer of funds, mostly from UAE subsidiaries of Indian companies.
Neither India nor the UAE has sanctioned rough diamonds from Russia. The US has, although its ban does not apply to diamonds cut and polished outside Russia.
Leaders of the G7 nations concluded their summit in Hiroshima, Japan, in May without the clear mandate to fully sanction Russian diamonds that many had expected.
The US is believed to have halted the bank transfers over suspicions they were being made to sanctioned entities in Russia, but industry representatives in India insist otherwise.
The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) is lobbying the Indian Ministry of Commerce and the Indian embassy in the UAE to resolve matters.
Vipul Shah, chairman of the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), told Economic Times: “We are trying to explain to OFAC that the payments were made to non-sanctioned entities and even to some Russian entities well before the sanctions came into place. There is very little direct import of diamonds from Russia.”
The $26m of blocked purchases represent only a small proportion of the average $1.3bn of rough a month that India has been importing from all sources (GJEPC figures for April to June).
The world’s largest office building is filled with diamonds
A new office building in India’s diamond city Surat in Gujarat, where 90% of the world’s diamonds are manufactured has surpassed the Pentagon as the largest structure of the kind.
Built over 7.1 million square feet of floor space, the Surat Diamond Bourse (SDB) has a big leg up on the 6.5 million square feet headquarters building of the US department of defense in Arlington, Virginia. The Pentagon was the world’s largest building for 80 years before it got dethroned.
The 15-story structure, featuring a succession of nine rectangular structures spilling out from a central “spine,” cost a whopping 32-billion-rupee ($388 million) to develop and build.
Indian architecture firm Morphogenesis stopped and started construction over four years because over pandemic-related delays. The building is finally due to open its doors in November 2023, with prime minister Narendra Modi due to inaugurate it.
Quotable: Narendra Modi lauds Surat Diamond Bourse “Surat Diamond Bourse showcases the dynamism and growth of Surat’s diamond industry. It is also a testament to India’s entrepreneurial spirit. It will serve as a hub for trade, innovation and collaboration, further boosting our economy and creating employment opportunities.” Prime minister Narendra Modi, who was Gujarat’s chief minister from 2001 to 2014, quote-tweeted a video of the Surat premises yesterday.
Working in the Surat Diamond Bourse, by the digits 4,700 office spaces: Office spaces in the Surat Diamond Bourse, which can also double up as small workshops for cutting and polishing diamonds. The offices were all purchased by diamond companies prior to construction, project CEO Mahesh Gadhavi.
65,000: Diamond professionals, including cutters, polishers and traders, that can work on the premises at a given time. Besides offices, the workers also have access to dining, retail, wellness and conference facilities
9: Number of 1.5-acre courtyards with seating and water features that can serve as casual meeting places for traders
131: Number of elevators on the premises
7 minutes: The maximum amount of time it takes to reach any office from any of the building’s entry gates, according to Sonali Rastogi, co-founder of the Indian architecture firm Morphogenesis that designed the behemoth building. In a democratic move, the offices were assigned to business via a lottery system
3 times: How much bigger SDB is compared its counterpart in Mumbai, Bharat Diamond Burse (BDB)
400: The small number of merchants that were willing to move in during the touted November 2022 opening, which led to the opening being postponed. Mumbai’s Palanpuri diamantaires are staying put because they do not want to incur establishment cost, transport cost, and take on overheads of maintenance when the trading business is struggling.
Jewelers in India have shattered a world record with a ring made of 50,907 diamonds.
The Eutierria Ring has more than twice as many diamonds as the previous record holder, The Touch of Ami, with 24,679 diamonds. Both rings were made in India.
The new ring, created by H.K. Designs and Hari Krishna Exports, was certified last month by Guinness World Records as the ring with the most diamonds.
The ring took nine months to design and make, entirely of recycled materials – 460.55 grams of gold and 130.19 carats of diamonds all re-purposed from customer returns.
It is designed as a sunflower with four layers of petals, a shank, two diamond discs, and a butterfly.
It has been certified by IGI and has a retail value of $785,645, according to a press release issued jointly by both companies.
It takes its name, Eutierria, from a term describing a positive feeling of oneness with the earth.
India’s only diamond mine will put up to 84,000 carats a year
Majhgawan-Panna, India’s only diamond mine which was shot down at the end of 2020, will resume production in July 2023 “with a forecast output of up to 84,000 carats a year,” IDEX Online reports.
Majhgawan-Panna, located near the town of Panna in Madhya Pradesh, was closed after environmental clearances “lapsed following concerns from the nearby Panna Tiger Reserve.” Despite this, the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), India’s biggest iron ore merchant miner, plans to resume work there.
According to the report, repeated concerns by the National Wildlife Board has caused mining at the mine to halt “stopped several times over the last 50 years.” In FY2021, the mine produced 13,681 carats.
Rough diamond prices have increased by 10-15 per cent in the last one and half months amid a supply crunch due to US sanctions on Russia’s Alrosa, said Bakul Gajera, who works with Surat-based Laxmi Diamond, a leading polisher.
The diamond industry in Surat, Gujarat, is preparing for flat domestic and international demand as raw material prices rise and “recessionary trends” build in the west.
A farmer in Madhya Pradesh had a great stroke of luck as he stumbled upon a 11.88 carat good quality diamond in a small, leased mine in Panna, famous for diamond mines. The small-time farmer, Pratap Singh Yadav, who also works as a labourer, found this diamond from a mine in Patti area in the district, diamond officer Ravi Patel told reporters on Wednesday.
This good quality diamond will be put up for sale in the upcoming auction and the price will be fixed as per the government guidelines.
Talking to reporters, Mr Yadav said, “I am a poor man with a small agricultural land. I also work as a labourer. I have been working hard in this mine for the past three months and got this diamond and deposited it to the Diamond Office.” The money received from the auction of this diamond will be used for setting up a business and to fund the education of his children.
According to private estimates, the diamond may fetch more than ₹ 50 lakh at the auction.
Luck Shines On Madhya Pradesh Farmer As He Mines Almost 12 Carat Diamond The Panna district is estimated to have diamond reserves of 12 lakh carats.
Panna, Madhya Pradesh: A farmer in Madhya Pradesh had a great stroke of luck as he stumbled upon a 11.88 carat good quality diamond in a small, leased mine in Panna, famous for diamond mines. The small-time farmer, Pratap Singh Yadav, who also works as a labourer, found this diamond from a mine in Patti area in the district, diamond officer Ravi Patel told reporters on Wednesday.
This good quality diamond will be put up for sale in the upcoming auction and the price will be fixed as per the government guidelines.
Talking to reporters, Mr Yadav said, “I am a poor man with a small agricultural land. I also work as a labourer. I have been working hard in this mine for the past three months and got this diamond and deposited it to the Diamond Office.” The money received from the auction of this diamond will be used for setting up a business and to fund the education of his children.
According to private estimates, the diamond may fetch more than ₹ 50 lakh at the auction.
Luck Shines On Madhya Pradesh Farmer As He Mines Almost 12 Carat Diamond The Panna district is estimated to have diamond reserves of 12 lakh carats.
Panna, Madhya Pradesh: A farmer in Madhya Pradesh had a great stroke of luck as he stumbled upon a 11.88 carat good quality diamond in a small, leased mine in Panna, famous for diamond mines. The small-time farmer, Pratap Singh Yadav, who also works as a labourer, found this diamond from a mine in Patti area in the district, diamond officer Ravi Patel told reporters on Wednesday.
This good quality diamond will be put up for sale in the upcoming auction and the price will be fixed as per the government guidelines.
Talking to reporters, Mr Yadav said, “I am a poor man with a small agricultural land. I also work as a labourer. I have been working hard in this mine for the past three months and got this diamond and deposited it to the Diamond Office.” The money received from the auction of this diamond will be used for setting up a business and to fund the education of his children.
According to private estimates, the diamond may fetch more than ₹ 50 lakh at the auction.
Officials said that the raw diamond would be auctioned and the proceeds would be given to the farmer after deduction of the government royalty and taxes.
Luck Shines On Madhya Pradesh Farmer As He Mines Almost 12 Carat Diamond The Panna district is estimated to have diamond reserves of 12 lakh carats.
Panna, Madhya Pradesh: A farmer in Madhya Pradesh had a great stroke of luck as he stumbled upon a 11.88 carat good quality diamond in a small, leased mine in Panna, famous for diamond mines. The small-time farmer, Pratap Singh Yadav, who also works as a labourer, found this diamond from a mine in Patti area in the district, diamond officer Ravi Patel told reporters on Wednesday.
This good quality diamond will be put up for sale in the upcoming auction and the price will be fixed as per the government guidelines.
Talking to reporters, Mr Yadav said, “I am a poor man with a small agricultural land. I also work as a labourer. I have been working hard in this mine for the past three months and got this diamond and deposited it to the Diamond Office.” The money received from the auction of this diamond will be used for setting up a business and to fund the education of his children.
According to private estimates, the diamond may fetch more than ₹ 50 lakh at the auction.
Officials said that the raw diamond would be auctioned and the proceeds would be given to the farmer after deduction of the government royalty and taxes.
Panna district is estimated to have diamond reserves of 12 lakh carats.
An Indian farmer has recovered his sixth diamond in two years – a 6.47-ct gem valued at over $40,000.
Prakash Majumdar leases a small patch of land in diamond-rich Panna from the Madhya Pradesh state government.
The diamond, which he found last Friday, will be sold at a price fixed by the Government Diamond Office, and the proceeds – minus taxes and royalties – will be split between Majumdar and his four co-workers.
It’s not the biggest diamond he’s found. Last year he unearthed a 7.44-ct stone on the same plot and he’s found four other gems weighing 2-ct to 2.5-ct in the past two years.
Farmers typically pay $2.70 for the rights to dig a 25ft by 25ft patch of land in Panna district, which is estimated to have 1.2m carats of diamond reserves.
Last July laborer Anandilal Kushwaha (pictured) who leased a tiny square of land to dig for diamonds in Panna, Madhya Pradesh, unearthed a 10.69 carat stone valued at $67,000.
An Indian farmer has recovered his sixth diamond in two years – a 6.47-ct gem valued at over $40,000.
Prakash Majumdar leases a small patch of land in diamond-rich Panna from the Madhya Pradesh state government.
The diamond, which he found last Friday, will be sold at a price fixed by the Government Diamond Office, and the proceeds – minus taxes and royalties – will be split between Majumdar and his four co-workers.
It’s not the biggest diamond he’s found. Last year he unearthed a 7.44-ct stone on the same plot and he’s found four other gems weighing 2-ct to 2.5-ct in the past two years.
Farmers typically pay $2.70 for the rights to dig a 25ft by 25ft patch of land in Panna district, which is estimated to have 1.2m carats of diamond reserves.
Last July laborer Anandilal Kushwaha (pictured) who leased a tiny square of land to dig for diamonds in Panna, Madhya Pradesh, unearthed a 10.69 carat stone valued at $67,000.
India’s jewelry industry could lose business to rivals such as China and Mexico if the US goes ahead with its proposed new tariffs on the sector, industry leaders warned this week.
Fresh import duties would jeopardize jobs and the well-being of the industry in both India and America, officials from the southern Asian nation said Monday in a meeting with the US Trade Representative (USTR).
The calls come after the USTR threatened to levy punitive tariffs of up to 25% on 17 jewelry categories originating in India, as well as on certain goods from other countries. The action, which it announced in March, was a response to e-commerce taxes in those jurisdictions that targeted online retailers. The proposed tax excludes loose diamonds.
Around 140 members of the Indian trade submitted petitions against the move before the April 30 deadline, the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) said Tuesday. The USTR allowed a panel of industry representatives to present comments at the virtual meeting.
Leading the delegation, GJEPC chairman Colin Shah argued that India had already seen a decline in gold-jewelry exports to the US after losing its preferential trade status with the US around 15 years ago. The latest move would exacerbate the situation, he insisted.
“Further [duties] on jewelry will accelerate that drop, and the beneficiaries will be China and Mexico,” Shah told USTR officials.
While Indian jobs would shift to other countries, US jewelry companies would miss out on the long credit and memo facilities that Indian suppliers offer, Shah added. In addition, India jewelry companies operate an estimated 500 offices across the US, employing thousands of locals, he asserted.
India’s exports of gold jewelry to America fell 22% from $1.9 billion in 2007 to $1.49 billion in 2019, according to a report the GJEPC released in March.
India’s jewelry industry could lose business to rivals such as China and Mexico if the US goes ahead with its proposed new tariffs on the sector, industry leaders warned this week.
Fresh import duties would jeopardize jobs and the well-being of the industry in both India and America, officials from the southern Asian nation said Monday in a meeting with the US Trade Representative (USTR).
The calls come after the USTR threatened to levy punitive tariffs of up to 25% on 17 jewelry categories originating in India, as well as on certain goods from other countries. The action, which it announced in March, was a response to e-commerce taxes in those jurisdictions that targeted online retailers. The proposed tax excludes loose diamonds.
Around 140 members of the Indian trade submitted petitions against the move before the April 30 deadline, the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) said Tuesday. The USTR allowed a panel of industry representatives to present comments at the virtual meeting.
Leading the delegation, GJEPC chairman Colin Shah argued that India had already seen a decline in gold-jewelry exports to the US after losing its preferential trade status with the US around 15 years ago. The latest move would exacerbate the situation, he insisted.
“Further [duties] on jewelry will accelerate that drop, and the beneficiaries will be China and Mexico,” Shah told USTR officials.
While Indian jobs would shift to other countries, US jewelry companies would miss out on the long credit and memo facilities that Indian suppliers offer, Shah added. In addition, India jewelry companies operate an estimated 500 offices across the US, employing thousands of locals, he asserted.
India’s exports of gold jewelry to America fell 22% from $1.9 billion in 2007 to $1.49 billion in 2019, according to a report the GJEPC released in March.
Diamond exports from India, which polishes about 90% of the world’s rough diamonds, will collapse by as much as a quarter this year as the pandemic crushes demand and breaks supply chains.
Overseas sales of cut and polished diamonds may slump 20% to 25% in the year ending March from $18.66 billion last year, according to Colin Shah, chairman of the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council. That will push exports to the lowest in data going back to the 2009 fiscal year on the association’s website.
“In 2008, things were bad for a quarter and business recovered after that,” Shah said in an interview. “This is now two quarters gone.” While festivals such as Diwali, Christmas and Valentine’s Day will prop up demand in the next six months, that won’t be enough to lift full-year exports, he said.
LOSING LUSTER
India imposed one of the world’s strictest lockdowns in March to contain the coronavirus outbreak. That brought activity to a halt and put the economy on course for its first annual contraction in more than four decades. With more than 7 million infections, the country is one of the world’s virus hot spots.
The measures to control the pandemic meant production centers were closed or operating at very low levels, and rough-diamond imports fell in line with poor end-product demand. The country’s diamond exports sank 37% to $5.5 billion in the six months through September from the year-earlier period.
Workers have now started returning to the diamond-polishing hubs of Surat, Mumbai and Kolkata, and factories are operating at 70% to 80% of capacity with social-distancing norms in place, Shah said. Still, it’s difficult to predict global supply chains as rules to control the virus change frequently, he said.
UNEVEN RECOVERY
The International Monetary Fund warned this week the world economy faces an uneven recovery until the virus is tamed. Chinese consumers are starting to spend again, while in Europe, the luxury sector is back near pre-pandemic levels despite a surge in Covid-19 cases that’s hurting normal tourism.
De Beers sold about $467 million of rough diamonds in its eighth sales cycle of 2020, Anglo American Plc said Wednesday. Sales improved compared with $334 million in the previous cycle, and $297 million during the same cycle in 2019.
“We continue to see a steady improvement in demand for rough diamonds in the eighth sales cycle of the year, with cutters and polishers increasing their purchases,” said Bruce Cleaver, chief executive officer of De Beers. “But these are still early days and there is a long way to go before we can be sure of a sustained recovery in trading conditions.”
Diamond exports from India, which polishes about 90% of the world’s rough diamonds, will collapse by as much as a quarter this year as the pandemic crushes demand and breaks supply chains.
Overseas sales of cut and polished diamonds may slump 20% to 25% in the year ending March from $18.66 billion last year, according to Colin Shah, chairman of the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council. That will push exports to the lowest in data going back to the 2009 fiscal year on the association’s website.
“In 2008, things were bad for a quarter and business recovered after that,” Shah said in an interview. “This is now two quarters gone.” While festivals such as Diwali, Christmas and Valentine’s Day will prop up demand in the next six months, that won’t be enough to lift full-year exports, he said.
LOSING LUSTER
India imposed one of the world’s strictest lockdowns in March to contain the coronavirus outbreak. That brought activity to a halt and put the economy on course for its first annual contraction in more than four decades. With more than 7 million infections, the country is one of the world’s virus hot spots.
The measures to control the pandemic meant production centers were closed or operating at very low levels, and rough-diamond imports fell in line with poor end-product demand. The country’s diamond exports sank 37% to $5.5 billion in the six months through September from the year-earlier period.
Workers have now started returning to the diamond-polishing hubs of Surat, Mumbai and Kolkata, and factories are operating at 70% to 80% of capacity with social-distancing norms in place, Shah said. Still, it’s difficult to predict global supply chains as rules to control the virus change frequently, he said.
UNEVEN RECOVERY
The International Monetary Fund warned this week the world economy faces an uneven recovery until the virus is tamed. Chinese consumers are starting to spend again, while in Europe, the luxury sector is back near pre-pandemic levels despite a surge in Covid-19 cases that’s hurting normal tourism.
De Beers sold about $467 million of rough diamonds in its eighth sales cycle of 2020, Anglo American Plc said Wednesday. Sales improved compared with $334 million in the previous cycle, and $297 million during the same cycle in 2019.
“We continue to see a steady improvement in demand for rough diamonds in the eighth sales cycle of the year, with cutters and polishers increasing their purchases,” said Bruce Cleaver, chief executive officer of De Beers. “But these are still early days and there is a long way to go before we can be sure of a sustained recovery in trading conditions.”
The Indian government has granted diamond companies extra time to ship polished goods back to the country without incurring customs duty.
At present, reimports are subject to the 7.5% levy once the diamonds have been outside India for three months. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has extended the deadline by a further three months for all parcels for which the cutoff date was previously between February 1 and July 31, it said Friday.
The country’s Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) had been lobbying for the change after the Covid-19 pandemic delayed the return of goods companies had sent overseas for grading and other services.
“The latest notification on the extension of three months on reimport of certified diamonds is a great respite for our exporters,” said GJEPC chairman Colin Shah.
Last week, the council urged the government to reduce customs duty on polished to 2.5%, arguing that the move would boost India’s status as a hub for trading and distribution of diamonds.
The Indian government has granted diamond companies extra time to ship polished goods back to the country without incurring customs duty.
At present, reimports are subject to the 7.5% levy once the diamonds have been outside India for three months. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has extended the deadline by a further three months for all parcels for which the cutoff date was previously between February 1 and July 31, it said Friday.
The country’s Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) had been lobbying for the change after the Covid-19 pandemic delayed the return of goods companies had sent overseas for grading and other services.
“The latest notification on the extension of three months on reimport of certified diamonds is a great respite for our exporters,” said GJEPC chairman Colin Shah.
Last week, the council urged the government to reduce customs duty on polished to 2.5%, arguing that the move would boost India’s status as a hub for trading and distribution of diamonds.
Indian trade bodies have recommended continued limits on rough-diamond imports in July, with a fresh weeklong shutdown of the Surat cutting sector adding to concerns about the market.
The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) and four other organizations have called for the industry to avoid shipping rough into the country between July 10 and 31. They are giving companies a window of July 1 to 9 in which to import goods to keep factories operational, and will review the policy in the final week of the month, the groups said in a letter to members Tuesday.
“Over [the] last few weeks, manufacturing operations have commenced, albeit under several constraints because of issues [such as social distancing],” they noted. “In view of this, it was generally felt that some new raw materials would be needed for continuing operations and keeping the labor force employed.”
Weak polished demand during the coronavirus pandemic led to fears of a diamond oversupply, prompting the GJEPC, the Bharat Diamond Bourse, the Mumbai Diamond Merchants Association, the Surat Diamond Bourse and the Surat Diamond Association to call for a rough-import pause for a month from May 15. They later delayed it to June 1 so companies could complete outstanding shipments.
These initial curbs have helped reduce stockpiles and manage cash flow, while miners have also offered support by being flexible with contract clients’ purchasing obligations, the groups added. The GJEPC will write to the large rough producers, urging them to continue that policy to avoid a collapse in the value of inventory, the letter stated.
However, the industry must still “proceed with great caution,” the organizations warned following a Saturday meeting with trade members.
“It is difficult to say when the Indian diamond industry will be fully operational,” said GJEPC chairman Colin Shah. “The industry [has] resumed manufacturing activities in a limited way, while maintaining all the stringent safety norms. But these are unprecedented times.”
The trade must, therefore, strike a delicate balance between continuing operations and maintaining workers’ livelihoods on the one hand, and ensuring health and safety on the other, Shah added.
Surat closure The sector suffered a setback on Monday when the Surat Municipal Corporation ordered the closure of all diamond-manufacturing units in the city for seven days, according to a note the Surat Diamond Association released on Tuesday. More than 700 diamond workers in Surat have tested positive for Covid-19 in recent weeks, with the polishing industry becoming a local virus hot spot, the Deccan Herald reported.
Diamond cutting in India has struggled to restart, even after the government relaxed the lockdown rules it introduced in March to contain the coronavirus. The Surat sector gradually reopened in May following a full closure, with the government allowing 50% of workers in factories and 33% in offices. But several outbreaks at manufacturing units have forced companies to shut again and send workers into quarantine.
Local media have carried reports of staff members attending work while unwell, with communal meals and the use of air-conditioning intensifying the risk of infection.
China dispute Adding to the troubles, a diplomatic rift with Beijing has led to unsold memo goods being held up at Indian customs on their return from Hong Kong and China, traders told Rapaport News. The Indian government has reportedly told customs officials to check all imports from China following a June 15 military clash in a disputed Himalayan border region that killed 20 Indian soldiers and caused an unknown number of Chinese casualties.
Companies might need to route goods via other locations such as Dubai at extra cost to avoid the bottleneck, an executive at a diamond manufacturer explained.
“We have been instructed [by customs agents] not to export anything, specifically diamonds, from Hong Kong to India, as customs have completely refused to release those parcels,” he said. “I see a problem escalating, and if this situation doesn’t get under control in the next two or three weeks, there definitely will be an issue.”
Indian trade bodies have recommended continued limits on rough-diamond imports in July, with a fresh weeklong shutdown of the Surat cutting sector adding to concerns about the market.
The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) and four other organizations have called for the industry to avoid shipping rough into the country between July 10 and 31. They are giving companies a window of July 1 to 9 in which to import goods to keep factories operational, and will review the policy in the final week of the month, the groups said in a letter to members Tuesday.
“Over [the] last few weeks, manufacturing operations have commenced, albeit under several constraints because of issues [such as social distancing],” they noted. “In view of this, it was generally felt that some new raw materials would be needed for continuing operations and keeping the labor force employed.”
Weak polished demand during the coronavirus pandemic led to fears of a diamond oversupply, prompting the GJEPC, the Bharat Diamond Bourse, the Mumbai Diamond Merchants Association, the Surat Diamond Bourse and the Surat Diamond Association to call for a rough-import pause for a month from May 15. They later delayed it to June 1 so companies could complete outstanding shipments.
These initial curbs have helped reduce stockpiles and manage cash flow, while miners have also offered support by being flexible with contract clients’ purchasing obligations, the groups added. The GJEPC will write to the large rough producers, urging them to continue that policy to avoid a collapse in the value of inventory, the letter stated.
However, the industry must still “proceed with great caution,” the organizations warned following a Saturday meeting with trade members.
“It is difficult to say when the Indian diamond industry will be fully operational,” said GJEPC chairman Colin Shah. “The industry [has] resumed manufacturing activities in a limited way, while maintaining all the stringent safety norms. But these are unprecedented times.”
The trade must, therefore, strike a delicate balance between continuing operations and maintaining workers’ livelihoods on the one hand, and ensuring health and safety on the other, Shah added.
Surat closure The sector suffered a setback on Monday when the Surat Municipal Corporation ordered the closure of all diamond-manufacturing units in the city for seven days, according to a note the Surat Diamond Association released on Tuesday. More than 700 diamond workers in Surat have tested positive for Covid-19 in recent weeks, with the polishing industry becoming a local virus hot spot, the Deccan Herald reported.
Diamond cutting in India has struggled to restart, even after the government relaxed the lockdown rules it introduced in March to contain the coronavirus. The Surat sector gradually reopened in May following a full closure, with the government allowing 50% of workers in factories and 33% in offices. But several outbreaks at manufacturing units have forced companies to shut again and send workers into quarantine.
Local media have carried reports of staff members attending work while unwell, with communal meals and the use of air-conditioning intensifying the risk of infection.
China dispute Adding to the troubles, a diplomatic rift with Beijing has led to unsold memo goods being held up at Indian customs on their return from Hong Kong and China, traders told Rapaport News. The Indian government has reportedly told customs officials to check all imports from China following a June 15 military clash in a disputed Himalayan border region that killed 20 Indian soldiers and caused an unknown number of Chinese casualties.
Companies might need to route goods via other locations such as Dubai at extra cost to avoid the bottleneck, an executive at a diamond manufacturer explained.
“We have been instructed [by customs agents] not to export anything, specifically diamonds, from Hong Kong to India, as customs have completely refused to release those parcels,” he said. “I see a problem escalating, and if this situation doesn’t get under control in the next two or three weeks, there definitely will be an issue.”
