Antwerp Rough Diamond Trade Sees February Uptick

(IDEX Online News) – Recently released figures from the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) showed that green shoots of recovery are visible in the diamond industry, particularly the rough trade.

During February, Antwerp exported and imported a total of $5.1 billion, based on the trade of 25 million carats of rough and polished diamonds. On a year-over-year basis this represents a 38-percent increase by volume and a 4.5-percent increase by value.

Despite this overall increase, Antwerp’s February polished diamond figures showed a year-over-year decline. By value, polished diamond exports fell 9.64 percent to $1.596 billion compared to $1.766 billion in February 2015. The decline in volume of diamond exports was even steeper, falling 15.77 percent to 616,000 carats compared to 731,000 carats in the same period a year previously.

Rough diamond exports on a year-over-year basis improved dramatically. By value, rough diamond exports increased 21 percent to $1.277 billion compared to $1.057 billion in February 2015. Rough diamond exports by volume climbed 30 percent to 12.3 million carats compared to 9.5 million a year previously.

Polished diamond imports declined in February; 11.94 percent by value and 16.64 percent by volume. However, rough diamond imports improved markedly. By value they increased 27.79 percent to $1.329 billion compared to $1.039 billion in February 2015. In volume terms, rough diamond imports increased by 58 percent, climbing to 11.7 million carats compared to 7.4 million carats over the prior year period.