Israel’s polished diamond exports drop 23% in 2012

Presenting Israel’s rough and polished diamond trade trend in 2012, the ‎Israel Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor noted a drop of 23 percent (on y-o-y basis) in the polished diamond exports, while polished diamond imports in the year fell 25 percent to $4.27 billion.

The polished diamond exports to U.S. recorded its lowest fall in years, dropping 27 percent to $2.04 billion and the said exports to Hong Kong dropped 16 percent to $1.59 billion, reports say.

The ‎‎year saw the country’s net polished exports( calculated as excess of exports over imports) dropped ‎‎15 percent to $1.29 billion.‎

Rough diamond imports fell 13 percent to $3.83 billion, and rough exports ‎decreased 20 percent to $2.8 billion.

The country’s net rough imports( valued as imports less exports) increased 15 percent to $1.03 billion, reports suggest. The net diamond account dropped 58 percent to $262 million in 2012.