With trade in rough and polished diamonds continuing to remain depressed, the Antwerp centre reported another marked year-on-year drop in imports and exports during the month of August, according to figures released by the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC).

During the month, the centre exported over 4.70 million carats of rough at a value of US$ 322.84 million, a marginal year-on-year increase of 0.53% in terms of volume but a major deline of 33.10% in terms of value. Rough imports fell by 0.46% in volume terms and 27.78% in value terms – with 4.97 mn carats of rough being imported at US$ 461.02 million – as compared to a year earlier.

Trade in polished also dipped during the month. Exports totalled 170,986 cts of polished at a value of US$ 323.07 million, a drop of 11.47% in volume terms, and of 33.55% in value terms year-on-year. During the month, the centre imported 387,860 cts of polished at a value of US$ 574.99 million, registering a small rise of 1.08% in volume terms but a sharp 18.78% in value terms as compared to August 2018.

During the first eight months of 2019, rough exports totalled 65.85 mn cts at US$ 6.05 bn, showing a decrease of 19.86% in volume terms and of 30.20% in value terms, while rough imports of 50.44 mn cts at US$ 5.36 bn were down 18.71% y-o-y in volume terms and 28.38% in value terms.

Polished exports during Jan-August 2019 stood at 2.83 mn cts at US$ 7.13 bn, down 11.41% in volume and a slightly lower 7.52% in value, and polished imports of 3.64 mn cts at US$ 7.40 bn, were down 8.99% in volume and by a smaller 5.37% in value terms y-o-y.

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