During August 2009, polished diamond imports into Japan dipped by 21 percent to $36.4 million and average price of diamond rose by 1.5 percent to $263 per carat, reports say. In terms of volume, polished imports decreased by 22 percent to 138,548 carats.

According to a region-wise import data, polished imports from China into Japan increased by 64 percent to $859,000, from the United States by 40 percent to $1.4 million, but imports from other sources decreased in the said month. From India, polished imports into Japan dipped by 11 percent to $20.2 million, from Belgium by 9 percent to $5.5 million and from Israel by 3 percent to $3.6 million.

In the said month, Japan’s gold jewellery imports stood flat at $57.5 million and import of platinum jewellery dipped by 17 percent to $31.6 million.