SURAT (Commodity Online): As an indication of things to come, India’s polished diamond exports climbed down by 13 per cent to $1.1 billion in June as softer prices continued to impact the total.
Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Centre (GJEPC) said polished imports decreased 5 per cent to $640.5 million, therefore net polished exports, exports less imports, were down 22 per cent to $436.4 million.
In terms of carats, polished exports rose 19 per cent to 3.972 million carats, as the average price for India’s polished diamonds declined 27 per cent to $271.1 year-on-year.
Rough imports to India dropped 39 per cent to $769.6 million in June, while rough exports fell 40 percent to $56.9 million.
Net rough imports, or imports minus exports, decreased 39 per cent to $712.7 million. India’s June net diamond account, measuring the extent to which total exports exceed total imports, improved by 54 per cent from one year ago, but it remained in a deficit of $276.3 million.
During the first half of 2009, India’s polished exports declined 30 per cent to $5.5 billion, while polished imports dropped 15 per cent to $3.1 billion. Net polished exports fell 44 per cent to $2.4 billion.
Meanwhile, GEM Diamonds, the UK listed diamond miner, said it sold 56,663 carats from its mine in Lesotho during the first half of 2009 financial year, generating sales of $74.1m.
Having settled outstanding debt following the cancellation of a convertible bond, the company now had $118m in cash and no outstanding debt.
Commenting on the diamond market, GEM Diamonds said the prices for rough diamonds had improved lately.
In January, GEM Diamonds sold 45 polished diamonds weighing 180.91 carats for $10m. The diamonds were derived from ten rough diamonds extracted in 2008.
Source : Commodityonline.com