China's Diamond Imports Surge in February

China's diamond imports soared in February, boosted by robust consumption during the traditional Chinese Spring Festival holiday, which indicates that the domestic consuming market remained strong, Rapaport reported citing Xinhua.
The latest data shows the diamond transaction volume on the Shanghai Diamond Exchange (SDE) last month slumped 63 percent from a year earlier to 1.26 million carats, but the trading value jumped 50 percent to $317 million.
Meanwhile, the SDE's diamond imports, a major indicator of domestic diamond consumption, surged 91 percent year on year to reach 105,800 carats in February, valued at $135 million.
In the first two months of this year, the exchange's trading volume totaled 2.39 million carats, down 64 percent from the same period last year. However, its imports in the period increased more than 80 percent to $342 million mainly due to a low comparative base and the rise of international diamond prices around the Spring Festival.
The SDE is the only platform for diamond trading, imports and exports in China. By the end of February it had 369 members of which 66 percent were from overseas.