Belgium Rough Diamond Trade Slows Down

Traders scaled back considerably on rough diamond trading in October

Rough diamond dealers and manufacturers have sharply curbed their purchasing in October, reflected in the clear reduction in rough diamond trading levels. Belgium’s imports of rough diamonds declined 32.11 percent to $669.78 million on volume of 7.7 million carats. The volume of imports sagged 35.64 percent.

The reduction in the volume of trade is by now an annual issue. In the first ten months of the year, imports declined 11.39 percent to 113 million carats.

Exports totaled $619.2 million, a 36.34 percent fall, plunging 44.09 percent in volume to 6.18 million carats.

These figures underscore that Antwerp based Diamond Trading Company (DTC) Sightholders have reduced their purchases as well as delayed delivery of some their boxes while finding it difficult to sell the goods on the secondary market.