Antwerp Rough Diamond Imports +35% in February

(IDEX Online News) – Antwerp's net rough diamond exports fell 31.9 percent to $83.3 million in February. The drop in value was accompanied by a large increase in the volume of net exports.

The volume of net exports jumped 86.7 percent to 0.54 million carats. The reason for the decline in value and rise in volume is not clear, and stands in contrast to the trend in gross trade - where the value made a double-digit increase and the volume declined.

Gross exports of rough diamonds increased 25.7 percent to $1.14 billion, according to data released by the AWDC Tuesday. The volume of gross exports, 10.3 million carats, is a 4.9 percent year-over-year decline.

Rough diamond imports by Belgium increased 34.8 percent to $1.05 billion in February. The volume of imports declined 7.4 percent to 9.7 million carats.

The average value of imports stood at $108.37 per carat and the value of net exports $152.99 p/c, meaning that the added value was 41.2 percent.