Buyers in the US have begun stocking gold and silver jewellery for the coming festival season in a big way. Rajiv Jain, chairman of the Gems & Jewellery Export Promotion Council, believes US jewellery demand will surge 15-20 per cent in the current season.
US is the world’s largest consumer of these items and India is the largest fabricator of fashion, traditional and imitation jewellery.
The nearly two-month winter demand in the US starts with Thanksgiving on November 25. This, similar to Diwali in India, is a big occasion for giving gifts and sees significant jewellery sales. The season encompasses Christmas and New Year and ends with Mother’s Day in February. It accounts for over 40 per cent of the country’s annual jewellery sales. Indian jewellery makers make 40-45 per cent of their annual sales in this season. India accounts for 37 per cent of jewellery exports to the US.
The majority of orders for the season has been executed. Jewellery importers and retailers get delivery of the products for display at least a week ahead of Thanksgiving. Hence, the delivery of pending orders is required to be concluded this week.
Indian jewellers have seen an interesting change this season. For entry-level consumers (price range of $29-$199), retailers have replaced gold with silver.
Barring the past two years, when retailers allowed replenishment of stocks and waited for a revival in the US economy, low purity gold (up to 10 carats) was used in diamond jewellery. This year, sterling silver (92.5 per cent silver, blended with 7.5 per cent other metals for strength) replaced gold in entry price-point diamond jewellery.
Such jewellery, though, has a negligible share in value terms. In India, however, the 45-day season ending with Diwali recorded a nearly 25 per cent growth in gold jewellery demand from last year’s 56 tonnes. Indian consumers’ affinity to gold remained unchanged, despite record high prices. Silver also saw a surge in demand.
Gold prices set a new record on Tuesday, hitting $1,419.5 an oz in London and 20,455 per 10g in India. Silver followed to trade at the all-time high at $28.29 an oz in London and Rs 42,440 a kg in India. During the first half of the financial year, total exports of gems and jewellery were $18,893 million (Rs 87,040 crore), a rise of 45.8 per cent (38.4 per cent in rupee terms), as compared to $12,955 million (Rs 62,884 crore) in the same period last year.
