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During U.S. President Barack Obama’s first year in office, the First Family received nearly $200,000 value of gifts from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Among the gifts was a ruby and diamond jewelry set consisting of a pair of earrings and ring, bracelet and a necklace presented to Michelle Obama.
The overall set is valued at $132,000.

Among the new unusual gifts, the Deputy Commander of the Royal Saudi Air Force presented the United States’ Deputy under Secretary of the Air Force with an strange gift: “Large 8” x 15” x 4’ piece of ore, with what looks to be gold embedded throughout”.

It was the only gift listed with a mysterious value.

In total, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia gave U.S. Government workers over $323,000 worth of gifts in 2009, far surpassing the accumulated gifts of any other country.

The next uppermost amount of accumulated gifts was $73,000 from Qatar, Of sixteen gifts valued at more than $10,000, eight came from Saudi Arabia, three from Qatar, and all from the United Kingdom (a pen, wooden pen holder made from a slave ship, and 3 books worth $16,000), Italy, China, Germany, and Ghana.

Michelle Obama received the most luxurious gifts, besides the jewelry set from Saudi Arabia, she received an 18 karat gold watch with diamonds and skin worth $48,000 from Ghana.

The least luxurious gift listed was a $75 bottle of olive oil offered to President Obama by Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority. Abbas also offered a painting and books prized at $446.

Among other gifts were a $20,000 textile depicting the First Family from China, four boxes of dates and twelve bottles of wine from Algeria, and a cd holder, a book, and 15 cds from Russia’s President.

The King of Jordan presented Obama with six decorative traditional weapons prized at $1,265.

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December 2010 saw an 8% drop in India’s exports of gold jewelry while exports of refined diamonds and total gem and jewelry exports rose considerably, Commodity Online reports.

According to beginning data from the country’s Gem and Jewellery Exporters Association, India exported $498 million worth of gold jewelry in December, compared to $541.63 million in the equivalent month of 2009.

However, the country’s total exports of gemstones and jewelry for December 2010 stood at $3.3 billion more than 70% higher than the $1.93 billion exported in December 2009.

December 2010 also saw a 91.48% flow in India’s exports of cut and polished diamonds – $2.49 billion compared to $1.3 billion in December 2009. Exports of colored gemstones were also up, although more modestly, and comprised $17.46 million compared to $15.12 million a year ago.

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Indian gems and jewelry exporters are shifting their focus to China as the country’s fixed export markets such as the US and Europe got adversely impacted by the huge global slowdown, said Executive Director at the Gems and jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), Sabyasachi Ray, in New Delhi on Monday.

He said, “The total marketplace is shifting at present. We can see that the US market can go down from 42 percent to 34 percent in upcoming, and Europe from 11 percent it will come down to 7 percent. This is how the shift is occurrence.”

“The marketplace is shifting to China. For India, it does not matter whether it is Europe or China. So, we have been marketing in China in a big manner. So, China can replacement whatever we are having in the European or US markets.

He also feels that the European market because of the global financial crisis will choose for cheaper products, which can likely be an opportunity for India as it is shifting market base to other markets (especially in China).

In fact, India’s share of exports is also rising globally as compared to other destinations such as Italy, Turkey, Germany, etc..

However, the markets such as China, Russia and Middle-East are some countries where India is demanding to expand in terms of its exports at present, he said.

On the export front he also mentioned, “Sell overseas growth is very positive. We are witnessing growth in the jewelry section of around 12 percent. In fact, diamond exports have grown up by 30 percent.”

“We expect of approximately 20 percent growth by the end of this fiscal”.
During the period from April-October this financial, total exports of gems and jewelry rose 41.64 percent in dollar terms at $21.39 billion as compared to $15.10 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year.