Even as gold glitters to new highs, India’s diamond industry is seeing some turbulence. Diamond exports fell 46.9% on a year-on-year basis to $998 million in July and in rupee terms, the slide was 33.6% to Rs. 5,538 crore, according to the latest figures from the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council .

In volume terms, exports of polished diamonds fell 45.0% to 24.8 lakh carats. Meanwhile, imports came down 82.0% to $264.5 million by value.

“The demand has been low in the US and the European market due to the vacation. The business is picking up now and you can expect the numbers to go up soon,” said Dinesh Navadia, president of the council.

“There has been a sharp decrease in diamond export trade after the government imposed a 2.0% import duty on diamonds,” said Bina Goenka, Diamond retailer. “The prices have also gone unreasonably high. Traders are already overstocked and trying to maintain prices.”

For the January-July period, polished diamond exports saw a dip of 41.0% to $10.4 billion, while imports declined 76.0% to $3.4 billion. Rough imports were down 6.0% to $8.9 billion and rough exports fell 5.0% to $918 million.