Rough Diamond Trading Growing for Israel, But Not At Desired Pace

Israel exported a net of $250.9 million worth of rough diamonds in May, according to figures released by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), growing 47.2 percent, year-over-year.

While rough diamond trading has increased compared to 2009, compared to 2008 trading levels are still soft. Compared to May 2008, when Israel exported a net of $377 million worth of rough goods, rough exports lag 33.5 percent.

The figures indicate that while the center is recovering, it is yet to return to the level of activity it enjoyed before the financial crash.

Israeli diamond traders are quietly expressing concern that the center’s recovery is too slow, falling behind Belgium’s and India’s recovery and as a result, Israel is losing important market share to its main competitors. Once this happenes, they add, it ill be extremely difficult to win it back.

In the first five months of 2010, Israel’s net exports of rough diamond exports totaled $1.31 billion in the period.

The CBS does not provide by carat data.