Japanese polished diamond imports in December largely unchanged on the year

Japanese imports of polished diamonds were largely unchanged on the year in December at $67.8 million.

In volume terms, imports plunged 32 percent ‎to 132,004 carats, according to Momozawa based on Finance Ministry data.

The average price per ‎carat of polished diamonds imports climbed 8 percent on the year-earlier figure to $514.

For all of 2012, polished imports increased by 8 percent to ‎‎$902 million, and in volume terms imports rose 7 percent to 2,033,971 carats.

In terms of countries of origin of the polished diamond imports, those from India dropped by 10 percent on the year to $29.2 million. Meanwhile, imports from Israel plummeted 58.9 percent to $4.2 million.

On the other hand, polished imports from Hong Kong surged by a factor of three to $8.3 million, while imports from the United States also soared to $6.3 million. Imports from Belgium also rose on December 2011, but by a more modest 13.2 percent to $13.4 million.