“Gems and jewelry exports to decline by 25-30% this fiscal year. As there was a complete washout of the first quarter due to lockdown to curb spreading of Covid-19″. The Gem and Jewelry Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) said on Thursday.
“Even as things are improving the washout of the first quarter will have a cascading effect on the entire financial year” . GJEPC Chairman Colin Shah said. However, the next two quarters will continue to be challenging due to manufacturing restrictions. “Overall, we are expecting 25-30 per cent decline in gems and jewelry exports in 2020-21,” he said.
Additionally, after the inauguration of the first virtual buyer-seller meet on loose diamonds he spoke to the reporters. There is going to be enough demand this year. However, manufacturing will be the challenge because a lot of workers have still not returned, he said. Adding “we hope we can ramp up manufacturing to go up with the demand”.
Jewelry manufacturers were functioning with 25 per cent manpower keeping to meet with state government guidelines. This limit has been increased to 50% from Thursday, Shah said.
“Usually the season is from October to March, when most retail buying takes place due to festive seasons. The demand is strong and we expect things to be close to normal by then. We expect 10 per cent decline during the second and third quarters.”, he added.
“This first ever virtual buyer and seller meet will be a new beginning for the council and will set an example.”, said the Commerce and Industry Ministry Joint Secretary Suresh Kumar.
“We are not sure how fast the entire scenario globally is going to change and how early we can travel and how the buyer seller meets physically. So, keeping that in mind, the industry should not waste its time, waiting for the pandemic to go away. Instead of that, it is prudent for the council to shift into a virtual platform.” Kumar added.
Taking concerns over the pandemic situation, the new normal of organising trade events has changed. Virtual trade events are the new normal as the pandemic.
“Hence, it is prudent for the council to arrange virtual events. Happy to know that the markets like the US, UAE, China among others are opening up and business contingencies are looking brighter,” he said.
