Gems, jewellery exports decline by about 5 pc in Apr-Jul

The country's gems and jewellery exports contracted by around 5 per cent to USD 10.64 billion in April-July this fiscal, mainly on account of demand slowdown in major developed markets.

According to the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) data, exports stood at USD 11.2 billion in April-July period of 2017-18.

The labour-intensive sector contributes about 14 per cent to the country's overall export.

The decline in shipments is mainly due to negative growth in the export of silver jewellery, gold medallions and coins, along with a rise in the return of consignments.

Industry experts said that the dip in exports during the period is because of slow growth in demand but the order books are gradually improving.

"Exporters are optimistic that from September, things will start improving as there will be good demand on account of NRI's diwali, Christmas and Thanksgiving in the US," an official in the council said.

As per the data, silver jewellery shipments during April-July 2018 dipped by 91 per cent to USD 172 million.

Similarly, export of gold medallions and coins contracted by 87.2 per cent during the period under review.

Shipments of rough diamonds too reported a negative growth of 11.7 per cent.

But, exports of cut and polished diamonds grew by 9.5 per cent to USD 8.2 billion in the first four months of the fiscal.

Gold jewellery shipments doubled to USD 4.3 billion during the period from USD 2.1 billion in April-July last fiscal.

India's main export destinations are the US, Europe, Japan and China. America accounts for about one-fourth of the country's total gems and jewellery exports.

During the period, consignments worth USD 2.8 billion were returned compared with USD 2.6 billion in April-July 2017.

China is the biggest competitor of India in the sector.

Imports of gems and jewellery too dipped by 3.78 per cent in April-July 2018 to USD 10.4 billion.

Imports of rough diamonds contracted 6.8 per cent, while that of gold bar jumped to USD 3.2 billion during the period as against USD 817 million in April-July 2017.