Recovery Continues, Japan’s Diamond Imports Up 30% in September

(IDEX Online News) - Japan imported 285,098 carats of polished diamonds worth $72.4 million in September, increasing 67.3 percent in volume and 29.6 percent in value, according to figures released by Momozawa & Co., based on statistics from the Customs Bureau, the Ministry of Finance.

In volume, this is the largest monthly import in four years, as Japan registers a surprising growth in interest n diamonds. Month over month imports increased in value by 57.5 percent.

Japan’s department stores have reported in the past few months growing sales of high-end jewelry and there is possibly a trickle down effect, resulting in rising purchases of lower cost diamond jewelry

The average value of imports was low, just $254 per carat, one of the lowest in many years.

The cause for the sharp increase in the volume of imports and their low value was shipments of 16,155 carats of diamonds from China, averaging $53 p/c.

India continued to be the leading supplier to Japan, shipping 165,023 carats worth $31.9 million, followed by Belgium, which was source of $14.2 million in polished diamonds.

In the first nine months of 2010, Japan imported $509.5 million worth of polished, an 11.6 percent increase from 2009 but still far less than imported in January-September 2008, $596.1 million.