After two years of falling exports, the gems and jewellery sector has caught back the upward trajectory as the shipments grew by 9.85 per cent. This was largely aided by cut and polished diamonds and silver jewellery, while gold jewellery exports were almost flat in FY17.
Exports went up to $43,156.21 million against $39,244.29 million in FY16. In FY16, exports were down 5.30 per cent and in FY15 it was down at 0.6 per cent. Exports of cut and polished diamonds grew by 10.24 per cent to $22,783.81 million against $20,667.79 million during 2015-16. Last year cut and polished diamond exports had declined by 13 per cent due to weak demand in key markets like the US and Hong Kong.
“This year off-take by major markets like Hong Kong has improved. The export has significantly improved as import of cut and polished diamonds is negative and rough diamond imports, on the other hand, has grown by 21 per cent. This means there was increased manufacturing activity in the processing sector,” said Sabyasachi Ray, executive director, GJEPC.
Gold jewellery exports re?g?istered just a marginal gro?w?th of 1.92 per cent at $8,721.81 million against $8,557.26 million in FY16 as the UAE, largest market, witnessed “great di?s?r?u?ption’ in trade amidst the oil crisis. Gold medallions and coins registered 2.85 per cent growth at $5,408.71 million.
Silver jewellery continued to post high double-digit growth. In FY17, silver jewellery exports grew by 35.83 per cent to $4,020.62 million. Cut and polished diamo?nds accounted for 52.79 per cent of total gems and jewellery exports and gold jewellery 20.21 per cent. The UAE remained the single largest importer accounting for around 32 per cent of the total gems and jewellery.