De Beers sees India as a bright spot, notes early recovery signs in US

By Neha Arora

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India has been emerging as a bright spot for the cut and polished diamonds amidst a slowdown in key markets such as the U.S. and China, Amit Pratihari, managing director, De Beers India told Reuters on Wednesday.

India is the world's largest centre for cutting and polishing diamonds, accounting for nine out of 10 diamonds polished globally, according to Indian government data.

However, the country's cut and polished diamond exports fell this year because of weak demand from China and the U.S., forcing the industry to focus on the growing domestic market that surpassed China last year to become the world's second-largest.

"China has completely slowed down in the luxury segment ... We see India growing very strongly," Pratihari said in an interview.

De Beers, a unit of Anglo American, is the world's top diamond producer by value and India's number one supplier of rough diamonds.

However, there were some early signs of recovery in the U.S. and "big growth" in the Middle East, Pratihari said.

"In next couple of months, we expect recovery," he said.

Weak exports demand for polished diamonds forced Indian processors to trim imports of rough diamonds by 22% to $7.9 billion during April to December, according to India's Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC).

De Beers is adjusting prices of rough diamonds to support the midstream industry - companies that buy rough diamonds from miners and sell them after cutting and polishing to retailers - in the face of polished diamond prices falling more than those of rough diamonds, he said.

"Miners are controlling the supply so more rough does not come into the market that would put additional pressure on the polished prices. But the pressure on polished prices is in midstream as in retail there is no change," he said.

India's cut and polished diamond exports fell by 8.3% to $9.76 billion in April-December compared with the 2023 period, according to GJEPC.

(Reporting by Neha Arora; Additional reporting by Rajendra Jadhav; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)