9.8% Drop in Belgium's Polished Exports

(IDEX Online News) – Belgium's polished diamond trade suffered from a 9.8 percent decline in exports in 2012 as trade in December plunged, within IDEX Online's forecast. Along with the decline in exports is a decline in imports and trade by volume.

Belgium exported $13.21 billion worth of polished diamonds in 2012, a decline from the $14.64 billion worth of polished exported in 2011, according to figures published by the AWDC.

The volume of exports dropped 18 percent to 6.95 million carats.

Imports during the year declined 8.1 percent to $12.9 billion and the volume of imports 17.2 percent to 7.44 million carats.

Throughout the year, export trends in 2012 were similar to 2011, with one noticeable difference at the end of the year. In December 2012 exports declined sharply, underscoring the difficulties jewelry retailers faced (see graphs below).

In December, Belgium exported 534,667 carats valued at $997.9 million, dropping 18.9 percent in volume and 17.6 percent in value.

Imports during the month fell even more, plunging 29.4 percent to $774.8 million as the volume dropped 37 percent to 405,883 carats.

Source: AWDC

Source: AWDC