Diamond industry associations ask members to temporarily stop import of rough diamonds
diamonds for two months starting from October 15 amid slowing global demand and rising inventories of domestic players. "...demand for loose polished diamonds and jewellery from large consuming economies such as the USA and China have been materially affected over the last many quarters, on the back of all-time highs of 2021 and 2022, with a visible slowdown in orders.
«As a result, our country's exports have declined by 25 per cent during January-August, with a similar trend in September.
Due to such factors, our inventories in polished diamonds have increased over the past few months and prices are softer as an effect of this mismatch in demand vs. supply,» according to a circular.
The circular was issued jointly on Tuesday by the Gem Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), Bharat Diamond Bourse, Surat Diamond Bourse, Mumbai Diamond Merchants Association and Surat Diamond Association.
Mining companies are regularly selling the rough diamonds that are being mined, irrespective of the state of demand in the midstream segment, the circular said.
Broadly, midstream segment refers to polishing and manufacturing activities in the diamond industry.
«They believe that the midstream is a mature segment of the pipeline and they will only purchase rough diamonds if there is a real demand.
»In other words, they rely on the midstream to gauge the demand for rough diamonds and are happy to respond with corresponding levels of supply. This puts the onus on the midstream to transmit real levels of demand by translating our need for supply of rough diamonds to all mining companies," it added.
To protect the interest of the industry, particularly the small and medium enterprises, the circular said there is a need to take
