Israel Rough Diamond Imports Continues Swing to Cheaper Goods

Israel’s net imports of rough diamonds declined 6 percent in August to $372.78 million or $257.93 per carat. In terms of volume, imports rose 24 percent to 1,445,250 carats.

Since July, imports shifted to cheaper goods, as opposed to the trend in the first half of the year. To exemplify this, in the first eight months of 2008, Israel’s rough diamond imports declined 5.6 percent in volume to 11.16 million carats and rose 9.5 percent in value to $3.61 billion.

The average value of imports since the beginning of 2008 is $323.83 p/c which is 25.56 percent higher then the average value in August. In July, exports averaged $322.78 p/c.

Exports were on the upswing in August. Israel shipped out 1,239,718 carats with a stated value of $276.91 million in August, a $223.36 p/c average.