Unusually Large Rough Diamond Shipments from India to the U.S. in April

(IDEX Online News) – The U.S. imported 70,209 carats of gem quality rough diamonds in April, triple the typical monthly imports. The surge was in imports from India, ten times the regular volume of imports and more than 40% of April’s total.

Year over year, the volume of April’s gross imports soared by 495.6%, according to data released by the Department of Commerce.

The value of gross imports, however, has declined by 12.1% to $35.6 million.

Rough diamond imports from India totaled $683,420, a relatively low value; however the volume of imports was 28,405 carats averaging $24.06 p/c. In the past, the volume of imports was just a few thousand carats a month, and the average value usually in the $70-$150 p/c range.

At this point it’s not clear what caused the surge in India’s shipments to the U.S. What is interesting is that the volume of exports to India also swelled in April, tripling from the average of about 7,000 carats per month to 21,673 carats in April.

Total U.S. exports in April stood at 61,973 carats worth $38.4 million, declining 8.4% in volume but doubling (100.7%) in value as compared to April 2010.

The majority of exports, $22.2 million, were to Israel, followed by exports to Belgium ($8.6 million).