The month of March delivered a rise in the value of rough diamond exports and imports for Belgium. The country’s rough diamond imports rose 7 percent (y-o-y) to $1.364 billion, while rough diamond exports were up 8 percent to $1.461 billion.
Although, the country’s net rough imports (valued as excess of rough imports less exports) dropped 26 percent to a deficit worth $97.39 million.
Polished diamond exports increased in value by 6 percent (over March 2011) to $1.379 billion. In terms of volume, the country’s polished diamond exports dropped 33 percent to 652,916.33 carats. The average price of the polished diamond exports rose 57 percent to $2,112.73 per carat.
The value of polished diamond imports into Belgium dropped by 3 percent to $1.303 billion.
Net polished exports (valued as excess of exports over imports), stood at a surplus of $76.04 million, rising from a deficit of $34.98 million in March 2011.
The country’s net diamond account in the month (valued as total exports of polished and rough less total imports) was up by more than four times to $173.43 million.