IDEX Polished Price Index Slides in March
April 07, 24(IDEX Online) - The IDEX Polished Price Index fell by 1.52 per cent in March, its worst performance since last September. It fell by 0.30 per cent in February and 0.27 per cent in January.
Trading across all major hubs remains quiet, amid weak sentiment and ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty, with a slow recovery in China and concerns over new G7 sanctions against Russia that came into force on 1 March. All goods of 1.0-cts or above being imported into the 27 EU nations must now go through Antwerp, where proof of origin is checked. Traders complained that in the weeks after it was launched the process was causing major delays, with shipments taking a week or more, rather than a day to clear Customs. Problems have since eased. Russia is responding to the sanctions by offloading its diamonds to the Gokhran, the state-run repository of precious stones and metals.
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