Israeli Exports of Polished Rise 8.7% to $4.7 billion

Israeli exports of polished diamonds in the January-September period increased by 8.7 percent to $4.7 billion from $4.3 billion in the year-earlier period.

Israel’s exports saw impressive growth in almost all trade parameters during the first three quarters of 2013, according to the Israeli Ministry of Economy’s Diamond Controller Shmuel Mordechai, who publishes the figures.

Net rough diamond exports climbed to $2.2 billion from $2.1 billion for the first nine months of 2012, an increase of 8.5 percent.

Net rough diamond imports rose 9.4 percent to $2.9 billion, compared to $2.6 billion in the first nine months of 2012.

Net imports of polished diamonds were $3.06 billion, decreasing by 1.1 percent on $3.09 billion for the same period last year.

The United States continued to be Israel’s major market for polished diamonds, accounting for 35 percent of the market, with exports of $1.6 billion. Hong Kong was the next largest market with 28 percent of exports or $1.3 billion.

Switzerland accounted for 9.6 percent with exports of $447 million, and Belgium was the next largest market with 7.6 percent or $350 million. All of Israel’s other export markets combined stood at 19.8 percent of the total with a value of $919 million.

Moti Ganz, Chairman of the Israel Diamond Institute (IDI) said that he was confident that the Israeli diamond industry would continue to grow. “While the economic challenges facing the entire diamond industry are still upon us, we are seeing a rebound in the United States and many of our European markets. We are also certain that Asian markets will show renewed growth in the near future. We look forward to continuing this positive trend during the rest of 2013 and the following year,” Ganz said.