Armenia’s Diamond Exports Badly Hurt in 2009, Shows Signs of Improvement

Armenia exported 70,600 carats of cut diamonds in 2009, a 70 percent drop compared to 2008, Interfax reported. Armenia’s imports of rough diamonds fell 30 percent to 102,000 carats.

The country’s diamond industry was hurt by the decline in global demand for diamond jewelry, an outcome of the economic crisis, according to Gagik Kocharian, a senior trade official at the Armenian Economics Ministry.

Armenia sources its rough diamonds from Belgium, Russia and Israel, according to the report.

Signaling a turnaround in the global economic situation, Armenia imported 20,000 carats of rough diamonds in January. By comparison, the country imported some 17,000 carats a month in the January-September period of 2009.