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Belgium’s Rough and Polished Trading Falls
Nov 16, 2016 10:53 AM
By Rapaport News
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RAPAPORT... Belgium’s diamond trading declined across
the board in October, in contrast to a recovery in rough in
the previous months of this year.
Rough imports dropped 7 percent from a year
ago to $897.4 million in October, while rough exports slumped 29 percent to
$721.1 million, according to data provided by the Antwerp World Diamond Centre
(AWDC). Inbound and outbound shipments of rough diamonds had increased in six out of the
nine months from January to September.
By volume, rough exports slid 32 percent to
5.9 million carats, while imports grew 11 percent to 8.4 million carats. The
average price of imported rough fell 16 percent to $106 per carat.
Net rough imports stood at $176.3 million in
October compared with negative $54.2 million a year ago.
Although polished imports fell 10 percent
to $796 million in value terms, they grew 17 percent to 596,676 carats by
volume. Polished exports dropped 17 percent to $775.2 million. The average
price of exported polished diamonds dipped 5 percent to $1,826 per carat. Net
polished exports swung to negative $20.8 million from positive $50.8 million a
year ago.
Belgium’s net diamond account, representing total polished and rough imports less total exports, stood at negative $197.1 million versus positive $105 million a year ago.
In the first 10 months, polished imports
fell 9 percent to $10.02 billion and polished exports declined by the same
percentage to $10.11 billion. Rough imports increased 6 percent to $10.18
billion and rough exports grew 8 percent to $10.54 billion. |
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Tags:
Antwerp, AWDC, Belgium, imports and exports, polished trading, Rapaport News, rough trading
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