Sri Lanka's gem industry has argued for decades about whether rough crystal should leave the island at all. The September 2025 gazette did not end the argument. It formalized a compromise that satisfies almost no one completely.
Miners and holders of included rough argue that forcing every stone through local cutting wastes material. Geuda, katta, and heavily silked crystal may never become a clean faceted gem in a Ratnapura workshop. Export after failed auction lets them realize value instead of stockpiling unsaleable rough.
Cutters and academics counter that Sri Lanka's export story is value addition. Rough worth 360 million dollars historically became 600 million dollars after cutting, heat treatment where appropriate, and jewellery manufacture. Exporting rough to polish in Bangkok or Dubai exports the margin along with the crystal.
The auction requirement is meant to ensure local buyers get first refusal at market price. Skeptics note that auction formats can be gamed: low attendance, reserve prices set to fail, related-party bidding. Informal smuggling already moves rough without auctions. A gazette only binds the formal sector.
From a buyer's perspective abroad, more exported rough might increase transparency of Sri Lankan origin material in foreign markets. From a nation-branding perspective, it weakens the mine-to-market narrative the NGJA promotes at Gem City Ratnapura. The government is trying to hit a billion dollars in exports while loosening the rule that kept value onshore. Those two goals tension each other.
This shop's view: the policy is a pragmatic admission that not all rough can be improved locally, but it should be paired with strict enforcement against illegal export and continued support for small-scale cutters. Otherwise the auction rule becomes theatre while the real rough leaves in suitcases.