Hong Kong's Polished Diamond Imports +29% in 3Q

Hong Kong’s diamond imports rose 29 percent year on year to $4.84 billion in the third quarter of 2011, according to data published by the Diamond Federation of Hong Kong, China. By volume, the polished imports fell 17 percent to 6.464 million carats as their average price grew 56 percent to $746.88 per carat.

Polished exports rose 18 percent to $3.34 billion and net polished imports, representing polished imports less exports, increased 62 percent to $1.49 billion.

Hong Kong’s rough imports more than doubled to $598.7 million, while rough exports increased 53 percent to $468.4 million. Net rough imports, representing imports less exports, rose to $130.3 million compared to a deficit of $41.6 million a year earlier.

Hong Kong’s net diamond account, representing total imports of polished and rough less total exports, grew 41 percent to $1.36 billion.

During the first nine months of the year, Hong Kong’s polished imports rose 33 percent to $13.32 billion driven by strong growth in imports from all its main trading partners. Imports from India rose 25 percent to $6.4 billion, while from Israel they increased by 69 percent to $1.86 billion and from Belgium by 35 percent to $1.46 billion. Imports from the U.S. grew 14 percent to $1.47 billion and from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) they rose 53 percent to $675.4 million.

Polished exports grew 35 percent to $9.87 billion in the nine months as net polished imports rose 27 percent to $3.45 billion.

Rough imports jumped 89 percent to $1.57 billion and rough exports rose 51 percent to $1.26 billion. Net rough imports rose to $312 million compared to negative $1.4 million in the same period a year earlier. Hong Kong’s net diamond account for January to September increased 16 percent to $3.14 billion.

-Rapaport

US NET POLISHED DIAMOND IMPORTS FOR SEPTEMBER DOWN 50.7%

American diamond traders were after pricier items in September, but purchased less of them, according to the latest government figures.

Net polished diamond imports by the US in September totaled $116 million, a sharp drop of 50.7% when compared to August 2011 and 55.1% compared to September 2010.

Gross polished diamond imports of $1.8 billion in September are a 22.3% year-over-year increase and a 9.6% growth from August 2011.

The volume of gross imports declined however by 6.3% to 1.1 million carats. Compared to August, imports increased by 2.3%.

Year-over-year, the average value of gross imports shot upwards by 30.5% to $1,645.29 p/c. Compared to August, the average value increased by 7.2%.

Gross exports of 1.5 million carats worth $1.68 billion are a one percent decline in volume but a 36.2% jump in the value, compared to September 2010. Month-over-month, exports decline 10.1% by volume and increased 21.7% in value.

The average value of gross exports leaped 174.1% year-over-year and a surprising 35.3% compared to August.

-Rapaport

US IMPORTS $15M IN ROUGH DIAMOND IN APRIL

The United States imported $40.5 million worth of rough diamonds in April, at an average value of $3,434.11 per carat - a 96.7% and 112.7% respective increase compared to April 2009.

According to IDEX Online, net diamond imports of $15 million are a 73.9% addition compared to 2009, based on figures released by the US Commerce Department.
The volume of US gross diamond imports in April dropped by 7.5% to 11,788 carats.
The United States exported 81,104 carats of rough diamonds in April, worth $25.5 million. The average value per carat was set at $314.50.

South Africa supplied the US with $16.3 million worth of rough diamonds, weighing 1,134 carats. Angola, the second leading supplier of rough diamonds to the US, shipped $13.1 million worth of rough, and the diamond export destinations for the US were Belgium ($11.3 million) and Israel ($6.4 million).