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India Trade Rebounds After Demonetization
Dec 24, 2017 5:30 AM
By Rapaport News
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RAPAPORT... India’s diamond industry showed significant gains in
November as both rough and polished trading recovered from last year’s post-demonetization
slump.
Polished-diamond exports jumped 50% year on year to $1.78
billion, according to data the nation’s Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion
Council (GJEPC) released last week. Polished imports grew 12% to $186.2
million, while net polished exports — representing exports minus imports —
leapt 56% to $1.59 billion.
By volume, polished exports surged 66% to 2.6 million
carats, with the average price falling 9% to $678 per carat. That reflects an
improvement in trading of lower-value stones, after Indian manufacturers in
that category suffered a severe decline in liquidity last year due to the
government’s decision in November 2016 to invalidate 86% of the nation’s currency
notes.
Rough-diamond imports increased 64% to $1.95 billion, while
exports grew 48% to $164.9 million. Net rough imports — imports minus exports —
jumped 65% to $1.78 billion. The volume of India’s rough imports more than
doubled to 21.8 million carats from 8.5 million carats a year ago, while the
average price slid 36% to $89 per carat. That also underlined the impact of
demonetization, with smaller Indian companies significantly reducing their
rough purchases this time last year.
This trend impacted Alrosa’s November sales, which advanced
36% during the month, as those smaller cutting companies displayed increased
demand for rough diamonds, the miner reported earlier this month.
India’s net diamond account for November — representing
total rough and polished exports minus total imports — stood at negative $193.6
million, versus negative $60.9 million a year ago.
In the first 11 months of the year, polished exports grew 2%
to $21.5 billion, while rough imports increased 7% to $16.29 billion, according
to Rapaport calculations.
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Tags:
Demonetization, Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council, GJEPC, India, India trade data, net diamond account, net polished exports, polished exports, Rapaport News, rough imports, trade data
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