India’s polished-diamond exports slid 32% year on year to $1.38 billion in June, rounding off a sluggish first half of 2023 as global demand slowed. Rough imports also declined, falling 33% to $1.26 billion for the month, recent figures from the country’s Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) showed.

 

Sources: 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 diamond manufacturing city of Surat, India. (Shutterstock)