U.S. Net Polished Diamond Imports Decline in 2010

(IDEX Online News) - The U.S. imported a net of $7.83 billion worth of polished diamonds in 2010, a 19.3 percent decline compared to 2009. This while gross imports increased 45.1 percent to $18.1 billion, based on figures released by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The volume of annual gross imports, 14.4 million carats, increased 32.6 percent, registering an average value of $1,255.99 p/c, up 9.4 percent. Exports of polished diamonds, however paint a different picture. Exports of 22.7 million carats worth $10.23 billion averaged $451.36 p/c. This means that most of the exports were of lower priced goods.

The volume of net imports was a negative figure of 8.3 million carats, with the U.S. exporting by volume more than it imported. The explanation for this may lie with the nature of the trade. Many diamond firms send goods to the U.S. and much of it is returns to them after buyers inspected them. This also explains the large difference between the average value of imports and exports.

For example, gross imports from Israel, The second largest supplier by volume, totaled 2,433,528 carats in 2010. Polished diamond exports to Israel of 4,528,675 carats exceeded imports by 2,095,147 carats.

The value of gross polished imports are still 6.5 percent below the level of imports in 2009, underscoring that while U.S. diamond consumption is rebounding, there is still hope for further improvement.

Israel was the leading polished diamond supplier to the U.S. by value, $7.74 billion, holding a 42.9 percent market share. India supplied $5.17 billion worth of goods, followed by Belgium that shipped $3 billion in polished. Together, the three supplied the U.S. 88.1 percent of its gross imports.

In December, the U.S. imported $1.453 billion worth of polished, some 1.8 million carats at an average value of just $801.84 p/c. This is a 23 percent increase by value and a 110.3 percent increase by volume, but a halving of the average value of gross imports.