U.S. Net Polished Diamond Imports +4% in January

(IDEX Online News) – U.S. net polished diamond imports increased in January when compared to January 2011 as well as when compared month-over-month to December 2011.

The increase from December is more than a cyclical trend of retailers restocking after the November-December holiday retail season. The large increase indicates a better than usual season.

It also likely reflects the low expectations retailers may have had from the holiday season. In such a situation, retailers stocked up cautiously ahead and during the season, and now need to replenish the resulting lower than usual inventory.

Net imports totaled $339.7 million, up 4.1 percent year-over-year, based on figures released by the U.S. Department of Commerce. Compared to December, net imports leaped 31.4 percent.

The volume of net imports declined 35.8 percent year-over-year to 240,822 carats.

The average value of net imports in January is $1,410.70 per carat, jumping upwards 62.3 percent compared to January 2011 and leaping 204.7 percent from Last December.

Year-Over-Year

Gross U.S. polished diamond imports declined 4.6 percent in January, totaling $1.52 billion.

The volume of exports declined 9.1 percent to 1.06 million carats in the period, pushing up the average value of gross imports to $1,423.17 p/c.

Exports from the U.S. declined 6.9 percent to $1.18 billion, while by volume exports increased 3.5 percent to 0.82 million carats.

This brought down the average value of exports by 10 percent to $1,426.82 p/c.

Month-Over-Month

Compared to December 2011, January's gross imports made increased more than usual, jumping up 18.4 percent by value and 12.3 percent by volume. Gross imports in January typically increase in a high single digit.