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India Trade Slumps Amid Global Shutdown
Jun 23, 2020 3:27 AM
By Rapaport News
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RAPAPORT... India’s diamond shipments plummeted in May, according to data from the country’s Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), continuing the decline resulting from the coronavirus crisis.
Rough imports and polished exports were essentially zero in April, Rapaport calculations showed, as cargo routes stopped and global demand nosedived. Trading picked up in May as the Indian diamond sector reopened and US and Chinese retail markets improved, but figures were still significantly down compared with a year earlier.
All the year-on-year figures for May are on a “same ports” basis, meaning the comparative amounts for May 2019 exclude shipments at ports for which numbers were unavailable in May 2020.
| India Trade Data for May 2020 |
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May 2020 |
Year-on-year change |
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| Polished exports |
$389M |
-79% |
| Polished imports |
$104M |
13% |
| Net polished exports |
$285M |
-84% |
| Rough imports |
$81M |
-84% |
| Rough exports |
$2M |
-98% |
| Net rough imports |
$79M |
-81% |
| Net diamond account |
$206M |
-85% |
| Polished exports: volume |
573,000 carats |
-74% |
| Average price of polished exports |
$679/carat |
-21% |
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Jan-May 2020* |
Year-on-year change |
| Polished exports |
$4.38B |
-54% |
| Polished imports |
$756M |
64% |
| Net polished exports |
$3.63B |
-60% |
| Rough imports |
$2.6B |
-53% |
| Rough exports |
$437M |
-33% |
| Net rough imports |
$2.17B |
-56% |
| Net diamond account |
$1.46M |
-64% |
| Polished exports: volume |
6.1 million carats |
-47% |
| Average price of polished exports |
$714/carat |
-12% |
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| *Rapaport estimates based on GJEPC data. |
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Source: Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council; Rapaport archives
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.
Main image: The Bharat Diamond Bourse, Mumbai. (Rapaport News)
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Tags:
Coronavirus, COVID-19, Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council, GJEPC, India, net diamond account, net polished exports, Net rough imports, polished exports, polished imports, Rapaport News, rough exports, rough imports
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