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Hong Kong’s 1Q Polished Diamond Imports Slump 13%
May 2, 2016 11:05 AM
By Rapaport News
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RAPAPORT... Hong Kong’s polished imports dived in the first quarter after
shipments from its key supplier markets – India, Israel and Belgium – slumped.
Imports of
polished stones dropped 13 percent to $4.23 billion in the three months to
March 31 as deliveries from India, Hong Kong’s largest diamond trade partner, retreated
12 percent to $1.88 billion. Shipments from the municipality’s second largest
source, Israel, plummeted 18 percent to $543 million, while imports from
Belgium nosedived 21 percent to $454.4 million.
The declines
outweighed an 11-percent surge in imports from the U.S. and a 4.7-percent
increase in shipments from the United Arab Emirates, the fourth- and fifth-largest
trade partners, respectively.
By volume,
polished imports dipped by 1.9 percent to 4.8 million carats as the average
price per carat slid.
Hong Kong’s
polished exports and re-exports fell 8 percent to $3.21 billion, mainly because
of a slump in shipments to India. This meant net polished imports, or imports
minus exports, dived 24 percent to $1.02 billion.
In terms of
rough trading, imports fell 15 percent to $374 million and exports declined 13
percent to $465 million, driving net rough imports down 3.3 percent to negative
$91 million. Hong Kong’s net diamond account for the quarter, calculated as
total rough and polished imports minus total exports, was positive $924
million, 26 percent lower than $1.24 billion a year earlier.
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Tags:
exports, Hong Kong, impors and exports, imports, Polished Diamonds, polished imports, Rapaport News, trade data
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