The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has made the Indian diamond industry even worse

We have never discussed the impact of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the global diamond industry before, but there has been intense discussion in international media about it. The material for today's article is derived from relevant reports released by India, as well as some results obtained from the data aggregation of GJEPC and Rapport. It is hoped that it will have a certain reference value for industry partners.

The Israeli war overshadowed the diamond trade in Surat, "was the title of an article published yesterday in The New Indian Express.

First, we were affected by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and now we are hit by the Palestinian Israeli conflict. The number of unemployed diamond workers in Gujarat has reached nearly 30000. "

——Ramesh Jilaria, Chairman of the Gujarat Diamond Workers Association

As a major player in the global diamond industry, India is currently facing pressure from the decline in bare diamond prices and a shortage of rough supply. As an important partner of India, Israel's diamond trade has been severely affected by the war, which has brought new troubles to the already difficult Indian diamond (processing) industry.

Bhavesh Tank, Vice Chairman of the Gujarat Diamond Workers' Association, stated that due to economic difficulties and unemployment, 400 diamond factories have closed down and 30 diamond workers have committed suicide in the past five months. If we consider the decision to 'stop importing raw materials from India in the next two months', it may lead to a' more severe phenomenon of worker unemployment '.

In the past, diamond processing factories used to operate 24 hours a day almost every year near Diwali Festival, but this year, the daily operating time is only 10 hours, and many factories have even started implementing a two-week break.

——Ramesh Jilaria, Chairman of the Gujarat Diamond Workers Association

According to reports from India, there are currently approximately 800000 diamond workers in Surat, involving 400000 families. If the war continues, thousands of people will be unemployed in the next few days... The association has sent a relevant letter to Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal

From a data perspective, in the fiscal year 2022-2023 (i.e. 2022.4-2023.3), India exported $1.28 billion worth of natural bare diamonds to Israel, accounting for 5.8% of India's total exports (22.04 billion). Although this proportion may not seem large, if roughly calculated based on 800000 workers, Israel's orders "feed" approximately 46000 Indian workers.

More importantly, Israel's total diamond rough exports in the previous fiscal year were $1.783 billion, approximately 10.26% of India's total rough imports (17.37 billion). Therefore, on the premise that the Russia-Ukraine conflict has already caused a shortage of blank supply, the impact of the Palestinian Israeli conflict on India is indeed huge.