Antwerp Rough Diamond Trade Stable in H1 2016, Polished Diamonds Slide
July 12, 16
(IDEX Online News) – The Antwerp rough diamond trade showed improvement in rough export and import in the first half of 2016, although polished trade continued to show weakness according to recently released figures from the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC).
Rough diamond imports in June alone saw a downturn, decreasing 11.31 percent by value and 20.51 percent by volume. In the January to June period, imports of rough saw a 2.44-percent increase to 48.52 million carats.
During June, Antwerp exported 7.395 million carats of rough diamonds – a 20.39-percent decrease compared to the 9.289 million carats exported in June 2015. From January to June this year, 56.39 million carats of rough diamonds were exported – a 12.9-percent increase over the same period a year previously. Rough exports by value in June also increased, rising by 4.8 percent compared to the same period in 2015.
Antwerp’s June polished diamond figures showed a downward trend. By value, polished diamond exports decreased 17.36 percent to $1.145 billion compared to $1.386 billion in June 2015.
In the January to June period, polished exports by volume fell 8.78 percent to 2.939 million carats compared to 3.222 million over the same period in 2015. Exports by value in the same period dropped to $6.682 billion compared to $7.296 billion in the January to June period of 2015 – an 8.41-percent decrease.
Polished diamond imports showed a decrease of 7.93 percent by volume to 502,314 carats in June. By value, imports declined to $1.224 billion compared to $1.399 billion in June 2015.
In the January to June period, polished imports by value declined to $6.457 billion compared to $7.134 billion in the same period a year previously – a 9.49-percent decrease. By volume, imports declined 10.83 percent in the January to June period to 3.3 million carats compared to 3.6 million carats over the same period in 2015.
The volume of stones imported from the US declined by 24.54 percent, with value also showing a 10.3-percent decline.