Israel's diamond trade up in first nine months of 2013

New statistics released last week by Israel's Diamond Controller Shmuel Mordechai reveal that in the first nine months of the 2013, Israeli exports of polished diamonds increased by 8.7% year-on-year.

The figures show that the entire diamond industry experienced a boost: imports and exports, of rough diamonds and polished all increased during this period. Between January and September 2013, US$4.659 billion worth of polished diamonds were exported from Israel. This stands in contrast to the US$4.287 billion worth of polished stones that Israel exported between January and September 2012.

In the first, second and third quarters of 2013, Israel exported US$2.243 billion worth of rough diamonds, a 8.5% year-on-year increase on last year's US$2.068 billion. From January to September 2013, US$2.893 billion worth of rough diamonds were imported, an increase of 9.4% over last year's total, US$2.645 billion.

Only the import of polished diamonds was relatively unchanged year to year, dropping just 1.1% to US$3.057 billion worth, during the first nine months of the year. The United States accounted for 35% of Israel's polished exports with US$1.639 billion and Hon Kong took second place with 28%, or US$1.305 billion worth. Switzerland 9.6% or US$447 million and Belgium 7.6% or US$350 million. The rest of the world 19.8% or US$919 million.