Antwerp reports rise on year in polished exports for January

Belgium exported polished diamonds with a value of $890.0 million in January from $819.9 million in the same month last year, according to data published by the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC).

In volume terms, exports of polished goods were 474,004 carats from 468,858 carats in January 2012. The AWDC also said the average price per carat climbed to $1,878 from $1,749 last year.

The AWDC reported that exports of rough diamonds in January dropped to 7.94 million carats from 8.12 million carats in 2012. In financial terms, they rose to $1.06 billion from $986.1 million last year.

The average price per carat of rough exports climbed to $133 from $121 in January 2012.

As for rough diamond imports, they edged up to 7.77 million carats from 7.67 million carats last year. In dollar terms, they increased to $1.11 billion from $1.05 billion in 2012. The average price per carat rose to $143 from $137 in January 2012.

Polished diamond imports slipped to 672,174 carats from 776,344 carats, and to $1.13 billion from $1.16 billion, however the average price per carat increased to $1,688 from $1,496 in January 2012.

Belgium's leading polished diamond export countries were the United States, Hong Kong, Israel, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates.

Polished diamond exports to the United States in January were $293.4 million compared with $267.7 million last year, and 79,327 carats from 69,301 carats.

Exports of polished goods to Hong Kong were $130.2 million from $85.1 million last year, and 71,810 carats compared with 48,219 carats in January 2012.