U.S. Rough Diamond Trade Hurts in April

The latest figures from the U.S. Department of Commerce is exposing the continued decline in the scale of U.S. diamond manufacturing as well as a global decline as polished diamond demand slowed down in the first quarter of the year.

Rough diamond imports in April fell 47.2 percent compared to March of this year.

While the volume of imports, 281,051, leaped ahead 85.2 percent from last year, compared to the previous month imports dropped 40.9 percent.

The average value of imports was slashed nearly 80 percent to $105.78 per carat, compared to $506.83 p/c in April 2011.

Rough diamond exports were cut in half to just $20.8 million. The volume of exports was down 21.8 percent to 162,279 carats.