Delegation from Antwerp’s diamond industry to visit US

The Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) will be travelling to Chicago and New York from April 18 – 23 for several networking events with local diamond traders. This visit underlines the significance of the America as a diamond consuming market.

The Antwerp delegation travels to Chicago from 17 through 20 April where AWDC partners with the Chicago SMART Jewelry Show , and then will visit New York for the New York Diamond Week. A series of networking events have been organized in both cities, creating the opportunity for Antwerp diamond traders to establish contacts with American jewelers and diamond traders. The New York Diamond Week is one of the most important events in the American jewelry and diamond market.

Sales of jewelry have taken off since the economic downturn, growing at a faster pace than the American economy as a whole. North America occupies ‘the most important’ stand in the global market for polished diamonds. Figures from the Diamond Office show that last year, no less than 602,000 carats of rough diamonds and 771,000 carats of polished diamonds were exported from Antwerp to America, good for a total value of over four billion USD. The diamond trade represents 4.7 percent of all trade between Belgium and the United States.

Whereas Americans previously purchased most of their jewelry between ‘Black Friday’ (the final Friday in November/day after Thanksgiving) and Valentine’s Day (14 February), it appears that since the economic downturn, these purchases have been spread more throughout the year. Last year, total American jewelry sales were good for 70 billion dollar, as per AWDC’s release.

American jewelers realize the vast majority of their revenues, approximately 57 percent, from diamond sales. New York is the central axis for the distribution of polished diamonds, while Chicago is the regional center for supplying the entire Midwest.