Due to the reduction in import duty on gold, gold prices have been falling for the past few days. But before this, in the last few years, gold prices have made investors rich. On the other hand, if we talk about diamonds, its prices have taken a deep dive in the last 2 years. In these two years, there has been a huge decline in the prices of both lab-made diamonds i.e. LGD and natural diamonds.
According to the data, the price of LGD was $300 i.e. around Rs 35 thousand per carat in July 2022, which has fallen to $78 i.e. around Rs 6 thousand 529 per carat this month. At the same time, the price of natural diamonds has also seen a decline of 25 to 30 percent.
Employment crisis in Surat!
Diamond traders say that the continuous fall in the price of diamonds in the last two years has increased the challenges of the business. During this period, the price of gold has increased a lot, the US economy and western countries have been affected by the recession and there have been sudden changes in the purchasing pattern of China.
Due to all these reasons, the fall in diamond prices has disappointed the traders. According to experts, everyone from the 38 thousand workers working in the country’s diamond hub Surat to small and medium businesses and large enterprises have suffered losses.
China reduced purchases
China has now stopped showing interest in importing diamonds. As compared to earlier, the dragon is buying only 10 to 15 percent of diamonds. In such a situation, the total export of gems and jewellery during April-May this year was around Rs 39 thousand 123 crore, which is a 5.9 percent decrease compared to these 2 months of 2023.
Cut and polished diamonds saw a decline of 15.5 percent and fell to $2627 million. Polished lab grown diamonds have also declined by 15.5 percent and have come down from $241.6 million in April-May 2023 to $204.2 million in these 2 months this year. Due to the fall in the price of diamonds, orders have to be placed at lower prices, due to which diamond traders are incurring losses. This is directly affecting the 50 lakh people working in the diamond industry as their prices have been falling continuously for the last 22 months.