Coronavirus: China's Diamond Imports Bounce Back
February 16, 22
(IDEX Online) - China imported $1.58bn of polished diamonds in the first half of 2021, as it bounced back from two years of pandemic decline and increased efforts to halt smuggling.
That figure is more than the whole of 2020 and is a rise of almost 50 per cent on the first half of pre-Covid 2019, according to data from Shanghai Diamond Exchange (SDE).
The country's diamonds import dropped by nearly a half in the past two years because of the pandemic.
Total trade in diamonds from January to June 2021 was $3.82bn, an increase of 86.5 per cent on the same period in 2019.
"The strong rebound of diamond import not only benefits from the quick recovery of China's economy … but also results from the strategic move of anti-smuggle and anti-money laundering initiated by the Chinese government," said Lin Qiang, SDE president.
Chinese customs launched a nationwide campaign in September 2020 to crack down on $855m of diamond smuggling.
Pic shows Shanghai Diamond Exchange (SDE).