India looking to source rough directly from Africa
March 27, 2008
New Delhi—A delegation of Indian leaders are Africa-bound, on a mission to cultivate rough-diamond relationships, according to various news sources.
Led by
India's Minister of State for Commerce
Jairam Ramesh, representatives from The Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council, the State Trading Corp. and the state-run trading company MMTC Ltd. are slated for a six-day tour of Namibia and Angola.
News sources report that Ramesh also will visit South Africa and Botswana.
Like other nations with diamond industry interests, such as Israel, India's top diamond buyers are looking to establish long-term relationships with diamond-producing countries that would yield a system of direct imports of rough to India.
According to news sources, Ramesh said that for the relationships to work, India must prove to these southern Africa nations that its own diamond-cutting and diamond-polishing industries will actively embrace and support beneficiation.
According to
The Times of India, the country's imports of rough diamonds in 2007-2008 will be worth an estimated $10 billion, and exports of polished diamond will be worth about $14 billion.
India is the world's largest importer of rough diamonds and the largest exporter of cut and polished diamonds with more than 90 percent market share.
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