Steady growth in revenue:

Gem and jewellery exports continue upward trend

By Sanjeevi Jayasuriya

Gem, jewellery and diamond exports continued its upward trend in earning foreign exchange by recording an overall growth of 22 percent. The sector’s growth in terms of value increase was from Rs. 57.856 b to Rs. 70.443 b, National Gem and Jewellery Authority (NGJA) Chairman and CEO, Prasad Galhena said.

Prasad Galhena

The most significant growth was recorded by gem exports, recording a 42 percent increase, generating Rs. 14.21 b in 2012 compared to Rs. 10.028 b in 2011.The value addition component is highest in the 41 percent growth in jewellery exports from Rs. 1,732 m to Rs. 2,444 m.“We could observe a steady growth in export revenue generation.

The growth momentum in the sector augurs well for related industries with its contribution to the national economy becoming more significant,” he said. The trend will help lead the gem, jewellery and diamond sector to reach USD 1 b in 2016.

The NGJA being the Government body mandated to develop, regulate and promote the gem and jewellery industry in Sri Lanka, organised Sri Lankan pavilions in several international gem and jewellery exhibitions in China and Singapore. These countries have been identified as booming markets in terms of gem and jewellery.Realising the importance of the local exhibitions, the NGJA organised the ‘Jewels Sri Lanka 2012’ exhibition last year offering an opportunity to the entire gem and jewellery business community in Sri Lanka to display and market their products to local and foreign buyers.

The NGJA organised a special pavilion for Small and Medium Scale entrepreneurs in the jewellery sector to promote the jewellery manufacturing community to the international market and to give them a first hand experience on participation at an international exhibitions.

The pavilion represented 88 SMEs from the Gampaha, Eheliyagoda, Ratnapura, Galle and Kandy districts.The NGJA will promote the gem and jewellery trading community to venture into new markets such as Poland, Russia and Ukraine and plans are underway to organise ‘Sri Lanka Pavilions’ in China, Singapore, USA and India.

Exhibitions of this nature will pave the way for exposure and opportunities for the gem and jewellery industry to be introduced to world renowned brands for backward integration in Sri Lanka.

The Authority which recorded the best year in 2012 in terms of performance indicators such as revenue, profits, number of licences issued and exports, works with the Government’s development strategy which emphasises value addition to the products to be globally competitive.