The dollar value of Israel's polished diamond exports for the first six months of the year is 19% lower than the country's exports during the same six-month period a year ago, according to the official responsible for the diamond industry at the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, cited by Israelidiamond.co.il.
Shmuel Mordechai announced that Israel exported only $3.264 billion of polished diamonds between January and June 2012, whereas it exported $4.026 billion of the stones in the first half of 2011, year over year.
Mordechai also noted that Israel's export of rough diamonds fell during the same time period. In the first half of 2011, Israel exported $2,264 billion of rough diamonds, compared with only $1,514 billion in the first half of 2012, a drop of 33%.
The import of both rough and polished diamonds to Israel also dipped in this period; imports of the former dropped by 19.3%, while imports of the latter dropped 21.7%.
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