Jewelry exports see 44.3% rise, reach $362M in May

The Jewelry Exporters Association achieved $362.2 million in jewelry exports in May 2019, seeing an increase of 44.3 percent compared to the same period of the previous year.

According to a statement released by the Jewelers Exporters' Association, the Near and Middle East Asian countries group spearheaded the exports in May with $156.4 million, followed by the European Union with $75.5 million, other Asian countries with $40.1 million, other European countries with $38.3 million and North America with $24.3 million.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) took the lead in exports with a 68 percent increase and $112.1 million. Switzerland came second with a 907 increase and $24.2 million, followed by the U.K. with a 1,136 percent increase and $24 million, the U.S. with a 19 percent decrease and $22.7 million and Hong Kong with a 1percent increase and $20.7 million.

The leading product group of $362.1 million in exports in May was gold jewelry with a 48 percent share and $175.4 million. Unwrought or semi-finished gold ranked second with 41 percent and $149.9 million, followed by diamond-gold jewelry with a 3 percent share and $12.4 million, silver jewelry with a 3 percent share and $10.6 million, and waste and scrap precious metals or clad with precious metals with a share of 2 percent and $5.8 million. The association increased its total exports to $1.4 billion in the five-month period of the year.

Mustafa Kamar, chairman of the Jewelry Exporters Association, underlined that gold must be in free circulation, adding the liberalization of trade in gold should be introduced to make jewelry a strategic sector and set an export record every month. "As one of the two sectors that increased its exports the most with an increase of 35 percent in 2018, we are pleased to achieve our target levels in the first five months of 2019," Kamar said. "There are two ways to maximize our jewelry exports. One of them is the free entry of tourists with 2 to 3 kilograms of gold to our country, which is accepted as one of the few frequented destinations of the world in terms of tourism, while the other way is the liberalization of trade in gold to break the current foreign exchange pressure. We believe we will double the existing export figures by legalizing both ways. Especially the free circulation of gold will relieve all sectors operating in the domestic market."