As per the provisional data released by The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), exports of cut and polished diamonds stood at US$ 1.68 billion, a decline of 19.38% as compared to the US$ 2.08 bn exported in June 2018. Rough imports dropped during the month by 36.79% to US$ 969.15 million as compared to US$ 1,533.23 million imported during the previous June. In volume terms also, rough imports fell from 15.45 mn carats during June 2018 to 10.91 mn carats in June 2019. However, Imports of cut and polished diamonds declined 24.59% to US$ 106.40 mn in June 2019 from US$ 141.10 mn in the same month a year earlier. While exports of gold jewellery (both studded and plain) during the month fell by 15.41% to US$ 913.88 million from US$ 1,080.38 million a year earlier, exports of silver jewellery rose to US$ 70.51 million in June 2019 as compared to US$ 40.58 million in the same month last year. Coloured gemstone exports fell to US$ 24.52 million in June 2019 as compared to US$ 40.78 million exported during the same month a year earlier.
For the first quarter of the current fiscal, total net exports of the gems and jewellery industry declined by 9.97% as compared to the same period a year earlier from US$ 8.04 billion during April-June 2018 to US$ 7.23 billion in the same period of the current year. Imports across the sector during the first quarter of fiscal 2020 were down 18.92% from US$ 7.63 billion last year to US$ 6.19 billion this year. Polished diamond exports during April-June 2019 were down 17.33% to US$ 5.20 bn as against the US$ 6.29 bn exported over the same months last year, while imports of polished diamonds fell by 20.11% to US$ 278.47 million as compared to US$ 348.55 million for the same period of the previous year. During the fiscal year to date, import of rough diamonds showed a decline of 25.78% to US$ 3.41 bn from US$ 4.60 bn a year earlier. In volume terms, imports fell by 24.98% from 47.78 mn cts in April-June 2018 to 35.84 mn cts in the same period in the current fiscal.
In April-June 2019, exports of gold jewellery (both plain and studded) dipped to US$ 3.03 bn as against US$ 3.24 bn during the first three months of the previous fiscal. Exports of synthetic stones during April-June 2019 were US$ 100.40 mn as compared to US$ 62.39 mn during the comparative period a year earlier. Exports of silver jewellery nearly doubled to US$ 237.01 million, and Coloured Gemstones exports fell by 11.82% to US$ 86.02 million in April-June 2019.
