Mumbai: India’s Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) has unveiled plans to organise Virtual B2B meetings with prospective trade partners in the gems & jewellery sector from Singapore and Switzerland to mitigate the impact of the disrupted supply chain during the current health crisis.
The Council has written to member-exporters asking them to indicate their willingness to join such an initiative.
Giving a background, GJEPC said that both countries import a significant proportion of gems and jewellery products from China and Hong Kong. These have been disrupted due to COVID-19 outbreak in China over the past few months.
Singapore:
India currently has a 16.6% share in gold jewellery imports into Singapore, while China has 5.7% and Hong Kong 11.7%. China and/or Hong Kong also supply significant amounts of polished diamonds, silver and imitation jewellery and coloured gemstones to this market.
GJEPC said that the High Commission of India, Singapore has identified gems and jewellery as one of the 19 categories of goods in which it was seeking prospective Indian companies to work with potential partners in Singapore.
Switzerland:
Similarly, India currently has a 0.1% share in gold jewellery imports into Switzerland and a 5.8% share of its polished imports, while Hong Kong has a 4% and 13.9% share respectively in each of these categories. A substantial amount of loose polished diamonds and coloured gemstones are also imported by Switzerland from China.
The GJEPC said it had requested the Embassy of India, Switzerland, to identify prospective buyers of gem & jewellery products especially gold jewellery products in Switzerland with whom B2B meetings can be organised in virtual format to initiate discussions.
Members interested in participating in either of the above virtual meets may contact Ms Naheed Sunke, Asst. Director, International Events at naheed@gjepcindia.com by Friday, 10th April 2020.