Antwerp Polished Diamond Imports Rise 32% in May
June 08, 05 by Edahn Golan
Belgium saw an active and growing polished diamond trade in May, increasing in every category: total value of imports and exports, total caratage, and average per carat price. Antwerp exported 832,190 carats of polished worth $807.92 million, an increase of 21.54 percent in dollar terms.
Polished imports took the lead, though, with 877,104 carats valued at $732.66 million brought into the center, showing a sharp increase of 31.97 percent in value.
The possibly interesting question is why the surplus of nearly 45,000 carats?
The continued trend from the previous month is that of imports and exports increasing not just in value, but also in caratage, topped by average per carat price also rising. The average price per carat of exported polished diamonds was $970.84 in May, up from $866 in April. The average price of imports was $835.32 during the month, up from $ 798.93.
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The fluctuation in price per carat of Antwerp exports in 2005
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What pushed the increase in carat exports were not sales to U.S. clients, where exports are growing in value while decreasing in weight (down 22 percent to 164,975 carats at $295.86 million, up 6.5 percent in value). The upwards push comes in the form of exports to Hong Kong (up 40.5 percent to 137,565 carats, increasing 36.5 percent in value to $93.52 million) and Israel (a 64.7 percent rise to 68,500 carats with an almost doubling in value to $109 million).
January – May exports rose 12 percent to $3.7 billion, while declining 4.2 percent to 4,070,726 carats. Antwerp’s imports echoed this trend trend, up 13.1 percent to $3.49 billion, while decreasing 3.2 percent to 4,374,122 carats.
