Indian Traders Hit by Switch from Diamonds to Gold
August 06, 24
(IDEX Online) - Seventy Indian diamond traders are reported to have closed their Hong Kong offices in the last six months, as Chinese customers shun diamonds in favor of gold jewelry as an investment.
A slump in sales has seen more than one in 10 of the 600 merchants from Surat and elsewhere in the western Indian state of Gujarat return home, according to regional news website The Blunt Times.
Demand for natural diamonds in China has fallen by up to 60 per cent (by volume since) since the Covid pandemic first hit in 2020 and polished prices are down by at least 40 per cent in the last three years.
Meanwhile, gold prices have surged in the last four years - up 48 per cent from $1,575 to $2,326 per troy ounce and reaching an all-time high of $2,483 last month.
Chinese consumers have been switching from diamonds to gold as a safer investment.