Jewellers to woo Europe with handcrafted designs

Faced with a sharp decline in export to the European Union (EU), after being removed from the latter's preferential list, Indian jewellers plan to market handcrafted, exclusive designs.

In May, the Gems & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) will be organising the visit to the EU of about three dozen manufacturers and exporters in the segment, to push this with buyers there.

Gems and jewellery as a category has been removed from the EU's list on Generalised System of Preferences (GSP). Under this, exports to the EU get customs duty concessions, in this case of 2-2.5 per cent for precious ornaments to importers there. Provided by developed countries for promotion of trade and industry to developing countries, GSP is a unilateral tariff preference scheme. It, however, also has a natural exclusion (graduation, in trade parlance) after achieving 17.5 per cent of total import of goods in a category, in the EU.

The latest EU list says there has been a natural graduation of gems and jewellery export from India. In 2015-16, ornament exports were $665.7 million to the EU, about 21 per cent of our total export to that region (and 1.7 per cent of India’s overall export of gems and jewellery).

“We plan to lead an Indian contingent with over three dozen leading jewellery manufacturers and exporters, in a first of its kind event in Antwerp between May 7 and 9. The objective is to promote Indian jewellery in the EU,” said a senior GJEPC official. They'd be targeting importers from Britain, France, Belgium and Germany.

India’s net export of gems and jewellery have declined over the past four years, to about $32 billion in 2015-16 from a peak of $43.2 billion in 2011-12. Shipment of precious ornaments to the EU was $3.2 billion for 2015-16, compared to $3.4 billion a couple of years before.