In 2014, the Israeli diamond industry maintained its export achievements of 2013, with a slight rise of $160 million in total polished and rough exports, according to figures published by the Ministry of Economy’s Diamond Controller Shmuel Mordechai.
Net polished diamond exports totaled $6.269 billion in 2014, a rise of 0.6% over the previous year.
Net rough diamond exports totaled $3.061 billion, compared to $2.938 billion in 2013, an increase of 4.2%.
Net imports of polished diamonds stood at $4.514 billion, compared to $4.309 billion in 2013, a growth of 4.8%. Net rough diamond imports totaled $4.022 billion, compared to $3.990 billion in 2013, an increase of 0.8%.
The United States continued to be Israel’s major market for polished diamonds, accounting for 38.0% of the market, with exports of $2.371 billion. Hong Kong was the next largest market with 29.7% of exports or $1.864 billion. Belgium accounted for 8.5% or $532 million; Switzerland accounted for 6.5% with exports of $405 million. The UK accounted for 3.7%, totaling $234 million.
Moti Ganz, Chairman of the Israel Diamond Institute Group of Companies (IDI) said that the results of 2014 mainly reflected the serious challenges faced by the global diamond industry, and expressed confidence that the Israeli Diamond Industry would show continued growth in 2015.
“The world diamond industry faced major challenges in 2014, including a significant credit crunch, high rough prices and low profitability. In Israel moreover the security situation during Operation Protective Edge caused a certain loss of business,” Ganz said. He noted that with the robust U.S. market and renewed Asian growth, he looked forward to increased demand for polished diamonds in 2015.
IDI Managing Director Eli Avidar said that the Israeli diamond industry had been very active in marketing in 2014, and that IDI was planning to broaden these activities in the coming year. Avidar stated that in 2015 IDI would spearhead the Israel diamond industry’s expansion with fresh initiatives in new and existing markets. “We will do our best to ensure that 2015 is a better year,” Avidar said.
