Gold jewellery exports soar 54%: inside India’s $2.2 billion June trade turnaround

Gold jewellery was the single biggest driver of a strong June for India’s gem and jewellery trade, with exports of the category soaring 54% year-on-year to $1.087 billion. The gains helped push overall gem and jewellery exports up 26% to $2.2 billion for the month, compared with $1.7 billion in the same period last year.

Within gold jewellery, studded gold jewellery exports surged 85% to $634 million, while plain gold jewellery exports increased 25% to $454 million. The split shows buyers leaning toward higher-value studded pieces even as demand for plain gold jewellery also picked up.

The quarterly trend told a different story. For the April-June quarter, overall gold jewellery exports actually slipped 2%, as a 20% rise in studded jewellery exports was offset by a 23% decline in plain gold jewellery exports. Silver and platinum jewellery also recorded strong gains during the quarter, with silver jewellery exports nearly doubling.

Diamonds contributed too, though more modestly. Cut and polished diamond (CPD) exports rose 8.7% in June to $847 million from $779 million, while lab-grown diamond exports jumped 52% to $101 million. For the April-June quarter, overall exports were largely flat at $6.6 billion and CPD exports dipped 4% to $2.7 billion.

An industry expert pointed to the stabilisation of natural diamond prices as the key positive signal, noting that it indicates demand is returning to the sector, while weakening currencies globally are pushing investors toward precious stones and metals. On the import side, rough diamond imports fell 27% in June to $700 million, and dropped 32% to $2.1 billion over the quarter, with volumes down 15% to 228 lakh carats.

Dinesh Navadiya, chairman of the Indian Diamond Institute, said the strong growth in studded jewellery exports is benefiting the diamond cutting and polishing industry as confidence returns across the trade.

Wikimedia Commons/by Theminimalcarbon