surat: Surat on mind, gems body takes up Russia diamonds with US

A high-level delegation from India’s Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) has met Brad Brooks Rubin, the special adviser on sanctions at the US State Department, to discuss the sanctions imposed on Russian diamonds that have severely hurt the diamond industry of Surat.

Cutting and polishing of rough diamonds have seen a decline in Surat following the US sanctions on Russian miner Alrosa, imposed over Russia’s war with Ukraine.

Alrosa produces 34-35 million carats of diamonds a year and controls 30% of the global diamond trade. It is a top supplier to the diamond units at Surat.

Talking to ET over the phone from Las Vegas, GJEPC chairman Vipul Shah said, “The primary focus of the discussion was on the implementation of sanctions concerning diamonds of Russian origin. The members engaged themselves in a detailed deliberation, exploring ways to effectively implement the sanctions on the ground.”

The GJEPC delegation met Rubin in Las Vegas during the jewellery trade show, JCK 2023, which ended on Monday.

The delegation also met Skander Nasra, adviser to the Prime Minister of Belgium, he said. Antwerp in Belgium is a major hub of diamond trading in the world.

“We also have plans to go to Russia and discuss the impact of sanctions on the Indian diamond trade. The US authorities have informed us that they will have a discussion on sanctions and will let us know,” Shah said.

Last month, the G7 countries put fresh sanctions on Russian diamonds. As there are no methods to identify which diamonds originated from Russia, the G7 declared at its May meeting that the origin of diamonds will be decided through traceability techniques which will bring down the movement of Russian diamonds in the world markets. This is a big blow to the Indian diamond trade that cuts and polishes nine out of 10 diamonds available in the world.

The employment of 1 million workers in Surat is at stake because of the fresh sanctions. Before the sanctions were announced at the onset of the Russia-Ukraine war last year, India used to directly import around 10% of Alrosa’s total rough diamond output. Even after that, most Russian diamonds ended up in India for cutting and polishing after passing through trading centres like Antwerp and Dubai. With a shortage of rough diamonds, 300,000 workers in Surat have already been sent on a 20-day vacation for which they will not get any wages. The diamond processing units have cut down operations from two shifts to one and 15,000-20,000 workers have lost jobs.

“Fear is looming among the workers as the supply side is gradually drying up,” said Diamond Workers Union vice president Bhavesh Tank.