Japanese October Polished Diamond Imports Flat

Polished diamond imports to Japan totaled $110.4 million in October, up only 0.4 percent, according to the Jewelry Trade Center, Inc (JTC), Japan. But while imports from the traditional centers, Belgium and Israel, dropped by over 40 percent in value, imports from the emerging centers of India and China grew dramatically, underscoring their rising importance.

Polished diamond imports from China more then tripled to $928,000 from $251,000 a year ago. However, the center was only the eighth biggest source for Japanese polished. India, by far leading the pack, supplied $56.39 million worth of goods, up 35.7 percent. The center also leads in terms of weight, supplying 197,792 carats of goods – 78.1 percent of total imports to Japan.

Despite their decline, Belgium and Israel were the second and third biggest suppliers, shipping $21.96 million and $7.73 million respectively. In terms of volume, Belgium was the source of 22,662 carats of polished; the second largest source in weight, 9 percent of total supply. Israeli traders shipped 6,463 carats in October.

During the first 10 months of the year, Japan has increased polished imports by 3.9 percent in value to $978,445 million. In carats, January – October imports decreased 5.7 percent to 2,110,482 carats.