Bhaskar Exclusive: Diamond boom after 4 years, but due to rough shortage, factories start shutting down before Diwali

After a severe recession in the city's diamond industry for the last four years, the overall boom has been seen for the last two months. Especially in the United States, the demand for diamond and diamond jewelry has improved significantly. However, in the midst of this boom, a new crisis of rough diamond shortage has arisen against the diamond industry of the city. With just days left for the Diwali vacation to begin, a short supply of rough diamonds worth less than Rs 20,000 is being created. Not only this, the price of rough diamonds in this segment has also increased by 10 to 20 percent in the last two months of boom. As a result, traders who have stock of rough diamonds will continue to operate till the end of the year, while traders who do not have rough diamond stock have already started shutting down factories before Diwali vacation. Shortage of rough diamonds has been created in Surat due to increase in global demand. Diwali vacation early in factories that do not have stock Due to the global recession in the diamond industry for the last four years, the diamond traders of Surat stopped stocking rough diamonds and adopted a policy of buying only as per the requirement. However, in the last two months, there has been a sharp surge in the purchase of rough diamonds due to a sudden increase in orders for finished diamonds from global markets, including the United States. On the other hand, the supply of rough diamonds has decreased globally due to the increase in fuel prices in Africa. This double condition of increase in demand and reduction in supply has led to a short supply of rough diamonds in Surat. Units with sufficient stock will remain operational till Tiger Baras, while non-stocked factories are announcing early Diwali vacation by avoiding purchases at increased prices. However, since the work is going on overtime and also on Sundays, a month before Diwali, the overall earnings of the jewellers will not be significantly affected. How long the current boom will last and when the supply of rough will return to normal will depend on the international market, US demand and the global geopolitical situation.