According to industry experts quoted in a story by the Economic Times on Wednesday, the G7 is planning to impose sanctions on huge rough diamonds sourced from Russia. In India, the largest center for cutting and polishing diamonds in the world, the move could jeopardize millions of employment.
According to the site, the prohibition, which would apply to diamonds weighing one carat or more, is anticipated to be announced at the G7 summit in Hiroshima in May.
Due to opposition from significant importers like Belgium, which is home to Antwerp, the largest diamond trading hub in the world, Russia’s diamond trade has so far evaded sanctions. The EU’s embargo plans have frequently been rejected by Brussels, which has warned that the decision might cost thousands of jobs.
Millions of people in India who work in the cutting and polishing of stones are now facing uncertainty.
According to several sources, there will be new sanctions that will begin with huge diamonds, according to Vipul Shah, chairman of the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council. “However, we are unsure of the precise form that the sanctions will take. This will have an effect on the employment of diamond workers in Surat, Saurashtra, Amreli, and Bhavnagar, among other places, he continued.
A hub in Surat, western India, where an estimated 3 million people depend on the sector for employment, is where nine out of ten diamonds in the world are cut and polished.
India can already easily transport raw stones from Russia to the US and other G7 nations as long as they have undergone significant modification. The system code used to identify diamonds in international trade is altered after the transition.
The breakthrough comes as the EU and G7 research methods for locating Russian diamonds across borders and prepare to implement a “watertight” tracking system to impose trade restrictions.
Given the enormous profits that Russia derives from the export [of gems], the G7, which consists of the US, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, the UK, and Japan, promised in February to “work collectively on further measures on Russian diamonds, including rough and polished ones.”
The greatest producer of diamonds in the world, Alrosa, contributes 30% to the $80 billion global trade in raw diamonds.
