Israeli 2004 Polished Exports Rose 14.4% in Value

Initial numbers released this morning in Jerusalem show exports of polished diamonds increased a whopping 14.4 percent in value to $6.333 billion, up from $5.532 billion in 2003. Imports of polished diamonds also increased in value as did rough diamond imports and exports during the last year.

Without carat figures, which have not yet been supplied, it's hard to gage how much Israeli supply to other markets has truly increased, especially since prices of polished and rough diamonds have increased during the past year.

Net imports of polished diamonds totaled $3.562 billion, compared with $3.405 billion in 2003 – a 4.6 percent increase.

With the sharp rise in the price of rough diamonds in 2004, it is no surprise that here trade leaped over 30 percent – net rough imports stood at $5.150 billion, a rise of 32.4 percent, while exports reached $2.92 billion, a 31 percent jump over 2003.

Again, the value of rough diamond trade was published without carat figures, which are expected to be released later this week.

Diamond Controller Shmuel Mordechai noted that rough imports from the DTC were $932 million during the year, representing just 18 percent of total imports, compared to a 22 percent share in 2003. He attributes this to successful efforts by industry leaders, aided by the government, to diversify the sources of rough. Since the number of Israeli Sightholders has decreased, efforts were made to decrease dependency on DTC goods.

The U.S. continued to be the main destination for Israeli goods with 67 percent of exports heading to that market. After the United States, came Hong Kong with 13 percent, Belgium with 7 percent, Switzerland with 3 percent, and Japan which accounted for 2 percent.