India Urging Miners to Be ‘Responsible’ About Rough Supply

India’s Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) will ask diamond miners to be sensitive to the needs of the industry amid concerns over an inventory imbalance.

The organization, which represents the Indian industry, will write to all mining companies in the coming days amid “supply-and-demand disruptions,” GJEPC chairman Vipul Shah told Rapaport News Thursday.

Weak retail sales in the major markets, as well as competition from lab-grown diamonds, have led to price drops and higher inventories, especially of less desirable goods. The RapNet Diamond Index (RAPI™) for 1-carat diamonds fell 4.7% in August.

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While the Indian trade is hoping the flow of rough will come under control, the letter will only call on miners to “be responsible in supplying,” Shah continued.

“The Indian industry is planning to look into taking some positive steps that are good for the industry,” Shah said, citing slow demand in the US and China.

The move follows meetings with Indian industry members, he added.

If the market situation doesn’t improve after the Jewellery & Gem World show in Hong Kong later this month, “further actions [will] need to be taken,” the chairman said.

In 2020, the GJEPC and other Indian trade groups recommended a temporary pause on rough imports to ease the market crisis during the Covid-19 downturn.

Main image: Rough diamonds. (Shutterstock)