April 2015 churned a more or less moderate performance for Antwerp’s diamond trade. Polished diamond exports rose a mere 1.24 percent on y-o-y basis, to US$ 1.04 billion. In volume terms Antwerp exported 4,81,692 carats of polished diamonds or a 2.75 percent rise over the same period last year, reports say.

Polished diamond imports totaled US$ 9,400 million, dropping a significant 22.81 percent. The volume of said imports was at 5,20,944 carats of polished dropping 1.05 percent over April 2014.

Rough diamond imports was at 61,56,554 carats or a 20.64 percent decline in volume and 31.66 percent drop in value to US$ 907.3 million. Exports of rough diamonds stood at 73,47,025 carats or a 20.84 percent fall in volume and a 34.03 percent fall in value to US$ 983.3 million, reports say.