Lab-grown diamond export sees a spike: GJEPC report

“The demand for lab-grown diamonds has gone up in the past few years in the international market. As a result, the export figures are going up gradually. We also assume that the exports of lab-grown diamonds will go up in the coming years as there is a vast difference between the prices of natural polished diamonds and lab-grown diamonds that are in a great demand in the national and international markets,” Surat Lab Grown Diamonds Association president Babubhai Vaghani told The Indian Express.

The diamond merchants who were earlier involved in the trade and manufacture of natural diamonds have also expanded their business to lab-grown diamonds, he said. “There are over 400 factories where lab-grown diamonds are manufactured in Surat. Apart from this, the trend of the lab-grown diamond studded jewellery market is also shooting up,” he said.

The GJEPC figures also noted that the gross import of rough diamonds grew from Rs 85,604.93 crore (USD 11,550.59 million) last year to Rs 92,541.43 crore (USD 11,684.50 million) in the current financial year—a growth of 8.10 per cent.

However, the gross exports of cut and polished diamonds between April and November 2022 was at Rs 1,21,602.56 crore (USD 15,355.09 million), a decline of 1 per cent, as compared to Rs 1,20,395.56 crore (USD 16,236.19 million) for the same period in the previous year.

“There are many reasons behind the decline in the export figures, including the global recession, diminished supply of rough diamonds due to the Russia-Ukraine war, the economic slowdown in the US, Europe, Hong Kong, etc. Inflation is also another reason,” said GJEPC Gujarat region chairman Vijay Mangukiya.

However, he said that the natural diamond industry is picking up with a good number of orders from the international buyers ahead of the wedding and Valentine’s seasons. “The diamond factories are running in full momentum,” he said.