The UAE remains a major market for India’s gems and jewellery exports, followed by the US and Europe, said an international gem expert.

Ian Harebottle, chief executive officer of UK-based Gemfields, a leading coloured gemstone producer, added that there was a good demand for gems and jewellery items in the UAE in 2010, and Dubai has seen a rapidly growing industry in diamonds and coloured stones.

Harebottle said the global market for gems and jewellery items was around $85 billion, with annual growth of between 5 and 10 per cent.

Harebottle predicted that the coloured stones market in the UAE will expand faster than other jewellery category in the next five years. Coloured stones trade will account for a high portion of total jewellery sales mix in Dubai in the coming five years.

Coloured gemstone dealers said that rubies, sapphires and emeralds were the fastest selling coloured gemstones, comprising 44 per cent, 28 per cent and 24 per cent respectively of their gemstone inventory.

The global gemstone market includes roughly $15 billion of coloured stones and $70 billion of diamonds and diamond jewellery and it represents 55 per cent of total global jewellery industry sales.

Harebottle explained that the global coloured gemstone sector has seen significant growth in the past few years as a result of consumer awareness. Dubai’s traditional focus on gold and diamonds has also gradually translated into an awareness of coloured gemstones.

The industry is embracing social responsibility and environmentally conscious mining, production and marketing of coloured stones products.

On the sidelines of the AGTA Tucson Gem Show earlier this month at the Marriott University Park Hotel Tucson, Arizona, Harebottle was presented with the “Gem Mining Company of the Year” award by the Indian Diamond & Colorstone Association (IDCA), a not-for-profit association based in New York.

IDCA honoured Gemfields for its fair trade practices to mine and market conflict-free gemstones on an integrated basis, a statement said. – TradeArabia News Service