China and India have now become the reference destinations for manufacturing. By profitability and large-scale production capability, there is none other than these that have been able to make a name for themselves in global product sourcing. The same goes for making diamond jewelry. Today, diamond jewelry comes mainly from India or China. These countries have come to have the advantage in the production and export of jewelry, compared to the rest of the nations. However, there are also some factors that differentiate these nations. A retailer must take a balanced view of the individual manufacturing strengths of these nations and match them with their requirements to decide on their sourcing destination. Here are some of China’s strengths:
- China has a highly evolved physical infrastructure and logistics setup, ensuring the timely delivery and transportation of goods.
- China’s labor is efficient and it is also known to be the cheapest in the production of diamond-based jewelry.
- With one-stop clearance for most business proposals, China has a conducive environment for conducting fast-paced business.
Some strengths of India against the manufacture of diamond jewelry:
- India has a large number of traditional and family owned diamond jewelry manufacturing units. These units have manufacturing and export expertise virtually ingrained into their DNA, due to generations involved in running the business of manufacturing and exporting diamond-based jewelry. Family businesses have strong experience in making the best use of India’s logistics infrastructure to ensure timely delivery of goods.
- Indians are more creative than Chinese due to stricter copyright laws. While the Chinese often copy designs to get retailers in trouble thereafter, the Indians do a lot of original creative work that is top notch. To add to this, there is the widely recognized advantage that India has over China in high-tech jewelery manufacturing R&D.
- There is hardly any cultural barrier between the West and India. Democratic traditions, the similarity of laws in the West and India, and widespread Westernization have a slow depth in India’s understanding of Western tastes, market choices, and preferences.
- Indian jewelery is almost as cheap as Chinese jewellery, but there is a greater amount of long-term benefit to be had from sourcing Indian jewelery as the well-established family manufacturing units in India are adept at neutralizing the negative aspects associated with logistics bottlenecks in India by finding the right means to ship items on time. They have been doing this for many decades and indeed their experience can be trusted. Major jewelry retailers have been sourcing diamond jewelry made in India.
- India is the world’s largest diamond cutting/polishing center. Even Chinese manufacturers get their finished diamonds from Surat in India. Therefore, the availability of finished diamonds will never be a reason for a delay in the shipment of jewelry pieces.
- China has covert relations with regimes in blood diamond mining countries like Zimbabwe. That means the money you use to buy jewelry from Chinese merchants would be used to finance civil wars in some of the world’s poorest countries like Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone and Angola. Therefore, a big ethical problem arises when buying from Chinese merchants.
Using this comparison of diamond jewelry manufacturing processes in India and China, you can make an informed decision on the supplier of your diamond-encrusted jewelry items.