Sri Lanka reported 8.7% year-on-year growth in gem and jewellery exports during the first four months of 2026, according to figures cited by NGJA leadership at industry briefings early in the year.
The number arrives after a difficult stretch in which rough import taxes suppressed local processing and an estimated 90% of gem exports still moved through informal channels. Formal growth at single-digit percentages does not by itself prove the billion-dollar target is within reach, but it signals that policy corrections and trade promotion are moving the needle.
Officials have paired the export push with product diversification and market diversification: coloured stones remain the core, but jewellery sales, certification services, and re-export cutting are part of the five-year plan that projects up to 1.2 billion dollars in sector revenue.
Buyers watching from abroad should read the figure as one early indicator. Sustained growth requires stable tax treatment, faster customs clearance, and continued buyer-facing events such as Gem City Ratnapura. A single quarter does not reset decades of inconsistent policy, but it is the direction the industry needs.