Mumbai: Exports of cut and polished diamonds as well as gold jewellery remained steady during the month of December 2014, registering a decline of 0.03% and a rise of 0.55% as compared to the same month a year earlier, according to figures compiled by GJEPC. Overall, the gross exports of all gem and jewellery items too showed a negligible 1.65% rise year on year.

Exports of cut & polished diamonds from the country during the month stood at US$ 1.451.75 million compared to US$ 1,452.20 million in December 2013. In volume terms, exports declined marginally from 2.04 mn carats in December 2013 to 1.98 mn carats in December 2014.

Imports of rough diamonds dropped by 13.4% in value terms during December 2014 – from US$ 1,652.53 mn to US$ 1,431.18 mn a year earlier, and in volume terms, from 17.19 mn carats last year to 14.06 mn carats in Dec 2014.

Cumulative exports of polished diamonds for the first nine months of the FY 2014-15 (April-December 2014) showed a drop of 7% from US$ 18.64 billion in FY 2013-14 to US$ 17.32 billion this year, while in carat terms the decline was 5.5% from 27.38 mn cts to 25.89 mn cts.

Imports of rough over the nine-month period were up by 5.6% in value terms from US$ 16.72 bn to US$ 13.31 bn and in volume terms, from 126.22 mn carats during the last financial year to 114.04 mn carats in FY 2014-15.

During the same period, exports of jewellery (both plain gold and studded) rose 129.8% from US$ 2.03 billion to US$ 4.67 billion. However, exports of jewellery from the SEZ/EPZ units declined by 16% from US$ 3.49 billion to US$ 2.93 billion during the April-December period, reflecting the difficulty faced by units within these zones due to policy constraints and other issues.

Exports of coloured gemstones in Apr-Dec 2014 declined to US$ 305.48 mn from US$ 490.46 mn the previous year and that of silver jewellery in the same period rose by 30% year-on-year to US$ 1,501.01 mn from US$ 1,154.59 mn in the first nine months of FY 2013-14.