Summer Slump Affects Belgian Trade

(IDEX Online News) – Belgian exports of polished diamonds rose in August to $548.08 million from $404.4 million a year earlier, according to figures published by the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC). By volume, the center exported 259,478 carats compared with 263,299 carats in August 2012.

However, trade was well down over the previous month’s level of $1.32 billion, a drop of 58.6 percent, and volume of 696,684 carats in July. But this was not an unexpected decline as business traditionally falls off in August with traders away for the summer vacation.

The average price per carat (p/c) rose notably to $2,112 p/c in August from $1,536 p/c in August 2012, while increasing by 11.3 percent from the previous month.

Polished diamond imports dropped 4.8 percent in August to $895.6 million compared to the prior month’s value of $940.4 million. Nevertheless, this was an increase over the $760.7 million worth of goods imported in August 2012.

By volume, imports were 518,689 carats, which was only a small decrease compared to the 554,556 carats imported in July, but was also a decline from the 539,877 carats imported in August 2013.

The value of rough diamond exports plummeted to $496.4 million compared to a yearly high of $1.5 billion in July. Rough exports were $430 million in August 2012.

Exports of rough diamonds in August dropped almost 70 percent to 3.60 million carats, down from a high of 11.9 million carats in July. Despite this drop, the average per carat price increased to $138 in August from $129 in July. This was also a decent increase over the average of $114 in August 2012 when exports were 3.76 million carats.

Rough diamond imports in August saw a 17.5 percent drop by value and a 17.4 drop in volume compared to July. This equated to a value of $842.2 million on exports of 5.83 million carats. This compares to just over $1 billion by value and 7.05 million carats by volume in July. The average price per carat remained the same for both months at $145 p/c.

In August 2012, the average price was a slightly higher $150 p/c with exports standing at $656 million for 4.39 million carats.

The US was Belgium's leading export market for polished diamonds in financial terms in August, followed by Hong Kong, Israel, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates.