(IDEX Online) - India's diamond exports are expected to drop by a fifth this year, say forecasters.
Coronavirus combined with sluggish global demands, have badly hit the second biggest cutting and polishing country in the world.
Total diamond exports in the first nine months of the fiscal year were down 18 per cent year-on-year, according to a report published today by Crisil Ratings, the Mumbai -based global analytical company.
About 40 per cent of the country's diamond sales are to Hong Kong, where imports were halted on 15 January and have yet to resume.
Subodh Rai, senior director, Crisil Ratings, "Exports would continue to fall in the closing quarter of this fiscal, which typically accounts for roughly a third of India's exports to the south-east Asian region.
"Given extended holidays in the region and shutdown of markets in the aftermath of the n-CoV outbreak, exports worth over $1 billion may be lost in this quarter alone."