Japan's Polished Diamond Imports Drop Sharply in June

(IDEX Online News) – Japanese imports of polished diamonds slumped by 18 percent on the year in June to $74.6 million, ‎according to Momozawa publishing figures from the Finance Ministry.

In volume terms, there was a 28-percent surge in polished diamond imports ‎to 243,497 carats, however the average price per ‎carat of the stones fell to $306.

‎According to the statistics, imports from India, which is Japan's main supplier, increased by 8 percent to $33.5 million, while imports from Belgium dropped 33 percent to $18.6 million. 

Meanwhile, imports from Israel dropped off sharply – falling 38 percent to $4 million, while those from Thailand plunged 19 percent to $4.3 million.

For the first six months of this year, polished imports declined by 7 percent to $410 million, however in volume terms, imports soared by 27.5 percent to 1.17 million carats.