May 2010 generated a mere increase of 3.3 percent in Japan’s polished diamond imports valuing at $47.4 million, reports say. The average price on the diamonds increased 13 percent over May 2009, to $281 per carat, leading to 8.6 percent fall in the volume of polished imports to 168,526 carats.

From India, polished imports into Japan increased 5.8 percent to $18.4 million, but imports dipped from Belgium (7.8 percent) and Israel (16.7 percent), two of the other important polished supply centres for Japan.

The period between January – May 2010, saw 3.1 percent increase in Japan’s polished diamond imports to $274.5 million, and a 8.7 percent fall in volume terms to 920,307 carats. In this period the average price on the diamond imports rose 13 percent to $298 per carat.