Ebola epidemic causes trouble for the Indian diamond industry

The Ebola epidemic has begun causing trouble for the Indian diamond industry which sources its rough diamonds from West African countries, reports say.

According to the reports, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Congo, Ghana, Guinea, Nigeria, Liberia and Senegal produce more than $1.5 billion worth of rough diamonds per annum and are frequently visited by Surat's diamantaires for direct sourcing of diamonds. However, due to Ebola outbreak, the Indian diamantaires have stopped their visits to these places for awhile which has hit revenues in West Africa. If the situation continues then it may cause shortage of rough diamonds in the near future.