Gems and jewellery exporters are pinning hopes on the recovery in the western markets ahead of Christmas, after witnessing a sharp decline in their shipments for the last eleven months in a row.
The Indian jewellery exports market has already started showing signs of improvement as the pace of decline in July-August was much lower than a sharp fall witnessed in the beginning of this fiscal.
The jewellery exports are likely to improve from January onwards as there are signs of recovery in western markets, A Sakthivel, president of Federation of Indian Exports Organisation, said.
The decline in the precious jewellery exports shrank from the steeping 34 and 24 per cent in April and May, respectively to 2-8 per cent in July and August, bringing relief to exporters ahead of Christmas.
These exports stood at $1.76 billion in August 2009 compared to $1.92 billion in a year ago.
Exports of cut and polished diamonds showed a drop of 24 per cent and coloured gemstones 15 per cent, while gold jewellery reversed the trend showing a growth of 40 per cent.
Though, the negative trend continues because of the slump in the world jewellery market, the situation seems to be reversing.
"We are getting good number of orders for the Christmas season," Mehul Choksi, chairman and managing director of jewellery exporting firm Gitanjali said.
The US, UAE and Hong Kong are the major markets for Indian jewellery exports which totalled at $21.11 billion last fiscal.
Source : Business Standard