India's Polished Trade Shrinking in January

(IDEX Online News) – India's polished diamond trade declined in January, mostly its imports. India exported a net of $828.4 million worth of polished diamonds in January. The volume of India's net exports was 1.36 million carats.

Ever since the decline in retailers' purchases of polished diamonds that started in July 2011, India's trade has been suffering from sluggish business.

The average value of net exports during the month is $609.12 per carat, based on the figures released by the GJEPC.

India's gross polished diamond exports in January totaled $1.77 billion, plunging 19.2 percent from January 2011. The volume of exports, 3.32 million carats, dropped 36.7 year-over-year.

Polished diamond imports were clearly on the low side. Imports of 1.97 million carats worth $944.9 million are far less than the 4.07 million carats worth $2.28 billion imported in January 2011.

A possible cause of the year-over-year decline (51.7% by volume and 58.5% by value) is the reinstatement of the polished diamond import tax. The tax is 2 percent of the value of the goods.