Israel May Polished Exports Top $1 Billion

Israel’s net polished diamond exports for May totaled $1.024 billion in value, a 1.3 percent rise over May 2007, when net exports came to $907 million. Year-to-date, net polished exports came to $3.57 billion, up 9.8 percent from $3.252 billion the year before.

Net polished imports rose 22 percent in value to $390 million, up from $320 million in 2007.

Exports of rough diamonds for the month were worth a total of $377 million, an 18.4 percent increase from $319 million in 2007, while net rough imports came to $512 million, up 14.8 percent from $446 million in 2007.

Year-to-date rough imports have risen 14 percent over the prior year period.

The U.S. received 67 percent of Israel’s polished exports. 11 percent was sent to Hong Kong, 7 percent to Belgium, 5 percent to Switzerland, 2 percent to the UK and the remaining 8 percent to “other” countries.

Diamond Controller Shmuel Mordechai commented that, due to the show in Las Vegas, a large amount of goods were exported for the event, and that a good amount will be returned in the first half June, after the show’s conclusion, it’s safe to assume that the real export value will prove to be lower.