Up 26.5% in a month: India's export machine restarts
Gems and jewellery exports rose 26.5% in June to $2.21 billion, per GJEPC data. Gold jewellery did the heavy lifting at +54.5%; cut-and-polished diamonds added 8.7% — the category's first clean monthly rise in the slump's long tail.
By The Rough Desk
What changed
The world's cutting floor is moving again.
What it means
- Value has come back before price, and work has come back before margin. An 8.7% rise built on $682 carats means the factories are busy again and the profit still isn't — but every diamond recovery in memory has started at exactly this end of the goods ledger.
Key figures
| GROSS EXPORTS, JUNE | $2.21B |
|---|---|
| GOLD JEWELLERY, Y/Y | +54.5% |
| POLISHED DIAMONDS | $846.7M |
| AVG EXPORT PRICE / CT | $681.70 |
Source: June, out of India
The factory moves again
India's gross gems and jewellery exports reached $2,212.6 million in June, up 26.5% from a year earlier, according to Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council data reported this past week — the sector's sharpest monthly gain in recent memory, landing after two years in which the trade's biggest factory mostly learned to shrink.
June, by category · $ millions
Source: June, out of India
Gold carries, diamonds turn
The composition matters as much as the headline. Gold jewellery carried the month, up 54.5% to $1,087.7 million — a number inflated by bullion itself, with gold roughly a fifth more expensive than a year ago, but too large to be price alone.
The quieter figure is the important one: cut-and-polished diamond exports rose 8.7% to $846.7 million, the category's first clean monthly increase after a slump that has closed mines on other continents.
The quarter tempers the celebration. April-through-June exports totalled $6,612.2 million, up just 0.04% — flat, in plain language. Cut-and-polished shipments for the quarter were $2,720.2 million, down 4.1% by value even as volume rose 8.9% to 3.98 million carats.
The average export price works out to $681.70 a carat: smaller and cheaper goods are doing the recovering, which squares with the small-stone turn this desk has been tracking since June.
| Figure | |
|---|---|
| Gold Jewellery, Exports | 1,087.7 |
| Polished Diamonds, Exports | 846.7 |
| Rough Diamonds, Imports | 700.3 |
Gold carries the month; polished posts its first clean rise; rough restocking only begins GJEPC June trade data, exports and imports as labelled. Carat Capital graphics desk.
The quarter keeps it honest
Upstream, the discipline holds. Rough imports for the quarter fell 32.4% by value and 8.6% by volume to 6.69 million carats — Surat is still working down inventory rather than restocking on faith.
June's gross imports of $1,720.6 million, up 10.06%, suggest the restocking has at least begun, timed to a July De Beers sight where rough pricing was expected to ease.
The story so far
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Method
Gold carries the month; polished posts its first clean rise; rough restocking only begins