By PTI

Jaipur: Stung by falling demand from the US, the Rs2,000-crore gemstone industry here is planning to shift its focus to Latin American, European and South African markets.

The US accounts for over 50% of coloured stone exports, said Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council Vice-Chairman Rajeev Jain, adding over-dependence on a market is hazardous for the gemstone industry, which is largely export-based.

Jain is also Chairman of Sambhav Gems.

“We are planning to explore export opportunities in emerging markets of Europe, Latin America and South Africa,” Jain said.

Jaipur, which claims 90% of the total coloured gemstone exports, has witnessed a large-scale decline in orders in the last eight months.

The industry is also betting big on domestic market to push the sale of stone-studded gold jewellery. Big exporters are now focusing on stone-studded jewellery in the domestic market to compensate their losses incurred due to slowdown in exports, he said.

The country’s gems and jewellery exports stood at $20.88 billion for 2007-08, against $17.08 billion in the year-ago period, up by 22.27%.