Japan's Polished Diamond Imports +45% in May
July 02, 12 by Edahn Golan
(IDEX Online News) – After the surprise decline in Japan's polished diamond imports in April, they were revived in May, returning to the levels seen in preceding months.
Japan imported $76.1 million worth of polished diamonds in April, on par with Imports in the first three months of the year, based on figures published Monday morning by Momozawa & Co., Inc. Japan.
The May imports are a 45 percent year-over-year increase, and a 34 percent increase compared to April.
Japan is continuing to demonstrate a taste for higher value goods. The average value of imports increased 40.5 percent to $551.75 per carat in May.
The volume of imports did not demonstrate the same acceleration, increasing just 3.2 percent to 137,853 carats.
In the first five months of 2012, Japan imported $349 million worth of polished diamonds, a 17.5 percent increase compared to the first five months of 2011.
