With dealers and manufacturers off for the Diwali festival, India’s diamond trade saw a noteworthy slowdown in October.
The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) reported that exports of polished diamonds dropped by 23% to $1.93 billion.
There was a similar decline in volume terms, with exports plunging 17% to 2.7 million carats. The average price per carat of goods slipped by 7% to $716.
Meanwhile, imports of polished dropped 30% to $137.5 million, the GJEPC said.
On the rough imports side, there was a sharp decline of 36% to $806.8 million, showing the impact of the Diwali vacation which fell in the middle of October, approximately a fortnight earlier than in 2016.
The country's exports of rough goods plummeted 31% to just $70 million.