Israel’s Polished Diamond Exports in H1 Nosedives 58.3% to $1.58B
July 01, 09
The economic downturn has severely hurt the Israeli diamond industry, with trade slashed by more than half in the first six months of the year. Israel exported a net of $1.58 billion worth of polished diamonds during the period, dropping 58.3 percent from the $3.794 billion exported in the first half of 2008.
In the first quarter of the year, Israel exported $935 million, which means that in the second quarter exports totaled $645 million.
Net polished diamond imports fell to $920 million from $2.345 billion the year before, sinking 60.8 percent, according to data published by the Diamond Controllers office in the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Labor.
The U.S. was the destination of 51 percent of Israel’s polished diamond exports by value. Some 23 percent of the goods were shipped to Hong Kong, Switzerland received 9 percent of the goods, followed by Belgium (7%) and the UK (2%).
According to Diamond Controller Shmuel Mordechai, the sharp decline in trade is an outcome of the global economic woes. He noted, however, a certain pickup in exports in all diamond categories.