U.S. 2006 Polished Imports Up 7% to $16.45 billion

The U.S. imported 17,065,211 carats of polished diamonds in 2006, worth $16.449 billion, a 6.99 percent increase over the $15.374 billion imported in 2005. Despite the strong finish to the year, imports in December fell 7.73 percent compared to December 2005.

December imports

The country imported 883,678 carats of polished worth $1,104,647,900, an average value of $1,250.06 per carat (p/c). Compared to December 2005, imports decreased 21.98 percent in volume. This decrease resulted in an 18.26 percent increase in the average p/c value p/c – up $193 to $1,250.06 p/c.

Imports from Israel, the U.S.'s main supplier by value, totaled $609,597,870 on imports of 252,600 carats – an average of $2,413 p/c. The second largest supplier by value was Belgium, which shipped 97,911 carats, worth $185,430,580 at an average value of $1,894 p/c.

India, the leading source by volume, exported 450,490 carats to the U.S. The value of India’s polished supply was $170,133,866, an average of $378 p/c.

Annual Imports

The U.S. imported 17,065,211 carats of polished diamonds in 2006, marginally up 0.4 percent compared to 2005. The average value of imports in 2006 was $964 p/c, a 6.56 percent increase over 2005.

Annual imports from Israel totaled $8.567 billion, representing 52.08 percent of total imports. Israel shipped 3,708,263 carats at an annual average value of $2,310.29 p/c. India, with 19.79 percent of annual supply by value, shipped 9,948,661 carats worth $3.256 billion at an average of $327.29 p/c. Belgium exported 1,647,365 carats worth $2.804 billion to the U.S. at an average of $1702.27 p/c. Belgian imports represent 17.05 percent of all polished diamond imports to the U.S. in 2006.