Antwerp Polished Diamond Exports Flat in October

As the year slowly draws to an end, Antwerp's import and export of polished diamonds register a single digit rise in value and a single digit fall in volume. The center exported 724,692 carats of polished diamonds worth $683,895,639 in October, a 9.27 percent drop in weight and a 0.7 percent rise in value over October 2004.

During the January – October period, diamantaires exported 7,919,000 carats, valued at $7,329,628,378, representing a 3.06 percent softening in volume while rising 8.97 percent in value.

Imports in October decreased 1.38 percent to 800,931 carats; increasing 7.06 percent in value to $ 675,743,237. During the January – October period imports declined 5.81 percent to 8,151,721 carats worth $6,940,485,524 - a 9.33 percent increase.

Diamond exports to the U.S. continued to decline. Compared to October of last year, exports to Belgium’s main polished trade partner fell 9.87 percent in value and 1.99 percent in volume to $224,205,228 and 168,577 carats, respectively.

Since the start of the year exports to the U.S. have declined 0.85 percent to $ 2,258,205,098.