Gems, Jewellery Exports up 67% in August.

India`s gems and jewellery exports grew by 67% in August to USD 3.1 billion year-on-year due to increased sales in the US and non-traditional markets like Russia and China.

``We have been able to increase our share in the US market to about 32% from 26% earlier,`` Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) Vice-Chairman Sanjay Kothari said.

``The exporters have been able to capture some market share of Israel and Belgium in the US,``he added.

The US along with the 27-nation bloc European Union account for over 70% of the country`s total gems and jewellery exports.

Exports of cut and polished diamonds exports in August saw maximum growth of 65% year-on-year followed by gold jewellery (49%) and coloured gemstones (14%), as per the GJEPC data.

The exports of the precious items during the April-August period increased by about 62% to USD 15.2 billion over the same period last fiscal.

The increase in exports is also due to enhanced demand for the Indian items in markets like China and Russia.

The council expects the exports would be about 30-35% in the current fiscal more over the previous year as demand was picking up in the traditional western markets.

In 2009-10, the exports of gems and jewellery were USD 29.33 billion.

Source : myiris.com