In June 2012 the average export price per carat of polished diamonds rose above 2,000 U.S. dollar again, to 2,072 U.S. dollar per carat to be exact.
This is an improvement to one year ago in June 2011 when the average price was 1,823 U.S. dollar per carat, AWDC reports.
In volume terms, the export of polished diamonds in June this year decreased 23% to 637,452 carats compared to June 2011 when it equaled 827,860 carats. In value terms however, AWDC noted a decrease of 12.5% from 1,509,241,424 U.S. dollar in June 2011 to 1,320,837,113 U.S. dollar in June 2012.
While AWDC saw an export of 4,683,926 carats polished diamonds from January to June 2011, they noted 3,665,575 exported carats from January to June 2012, which implies a decline of 21.7% in volume terms. In value terms however, there was a small decrease of 4.5% to 7,015,931,302 U.S. dollar. AS for the import figures of polished diamonds in June 2012, there was a decline of 28.6% in volume terms but just a 0.3% fall in value terms to a year earlier in June 2011, AWDC noted.
During the first six months of 2012, the import figures of polished diamonds declined 16.9% in volume terms to 4,083,974 carats compared to the first six months of 2011. In value terms however, this resulted in a 3.68% rise to 7,142,716,279 U.S. dollar.
“When we take a closer look at the export figures of rough diamonds in June 2012, we can see a volume drop of 34% to 7,820,785 carats compared to June 2011. This translates in a value drop of 33.4% to 1,074,257,584 U.S. dollar in comparison to exactly one year ago,” according to a statement by AWDC.
During the first half of 2012, a smaller downfall in volume was posted, as well as in value terms for exported rough diamonds. From January to June 2012, the volume dropped 17.8% to 51,906,140 carats compared to the first half of 2011. In value terms, this implies a decline of 9.2% to 7,029,305,965 U.S. dollar.
The import figures of rough diamonds also declined compared to a year earlier. In June 2011 the value equaled 1,418,304,804 U.S. dollar while in June 2012 this figure equals 925,094,899 U.S. dollar. This is a decrease of 34.8%. In volume terms, AWDC noted a decrease of 30.2%.
From January to June 2012 the rough import figures showed a decline of 18.4% in volume terms but only a 7.3% drop in value, compared to the first half of 2011.
Alex Shishlo, editor of the European Bureau Rough&Polished
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