India stepped up rough diamond imports in July. The country's gross imports totaled $1.89 billion during the month, double (99.3%) the value of imports a year ago and up 18.6% compared to June, based on figures released by the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council.



Gross imports by volume jumped 19% from July 2010 to 15.9 million carats. Compared to June, this is a 16.9% increase.



Exports of rough diamonds in July totaled $124.85 million on shipments of 2.8 million carats, rising year-over-year by 95.5% by value and 21.5% by volume.



The continued increase in July was fueled by a large supply of goods from producers, mainly De Beers and Alrosa, and a sharp increase in prices by the two suppliers, estimated at 10% and 20-25%, respectively.