Israel Polished Diamond Imports Rise 16.5% in Value in September

Net polished diamond imports to Israel rose 16.5 percent to $424 million in September from $364 million a year earlier, the Israeli Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Labor said on Sunday. Imports by volume dropped 13.9 percent to 258,141.34 carats, as the average per carat price rose 35.3 percent to $1,643.

Net polished diamond exports were mostly unchanged from a year before, rising by 1 percent to $663 million in value in September, while the volume inched up slightly to 331,246.53 carats.

Israeli polished diamond exports exceeded imports by $239 million, but the trade gap narrowed by 18.3 percent from a year before.

For the first nine months of 2008, polished imports rose by 16.2 percent to $3.509 billion from the year before, while the volume dropped 3.6 percent to 2,393,745.58 carats. Polished exports for the nine-month period rose 2.7 percent to $5.485 billion in value while quantity dropped by 15.8 percent to 2,586,310.82 carats from the previous year period.

The trade gap narrowed by 14.9 percent for the first nine months of 2008 from same period in 2007, as Israel exported $1.976 billion more polished diamonds than it imported.

Israel’s net export of polished diamonds exceeded its net rough imports by $150.8 million in September, though the net worth dropped by 19.3 percent from a year earlier.