Mirroring the trend seen during the previous months, rough exports from Antwerp dipped by 8.13% in value terms in the month of June, while polished exports showed a rise of 3.62% in the same month, according to figures released by the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) this week.

In June 2018, the Antwerp centre exported over 11.07 million carats of rough at a value of US$ 1.09 billion, a year-on-year fall of 2.01% in terms of volume, and of 8.13% in value terms. Rough imports dropped by 13.37% in value terms, but rose marginally by 0.71% in volume terms – with 7.96 mn carats of rough being imported at US$ 864 million – as compared to a year earlier.

During June 2018, the Antwerp centre exported 434,631 cts of polished at a value of US$ 1.04 bn, a drop of 5.56% in volume terms but a rise of 3.62% in value terms year-on-year. During the month, the centre imported 499,813 cts of polished at a value of US$ 1.16 bn, registering an increase of 1.97% in volume terms and of 7.06% in value terms as compared to June 2017.

During the first six months of 2018, rough exports totalled 66.84 mn cts at US$ 6.85 bn, remaining virtually flat with a drop of 0.11% in volume terms and a slightly stronger rise of 3.79% in value terms, while rough imports of 49.44 mn cts at US$ 5.89 bn were similarly up by a marginal 0.951 y-o-y in volume terms and a somewhat higher 3.84% in value terms.

Polished exports during the first half of 2018 stood at 2.55 mn cts at US$ 6.13 bn, almost flat with a 0.85% dip in volume and 1.14% increase in value, while polished imports of 3.11 mn cts  at US$ 6.18 bn, were up 3.91% in volume and 1.86% in value terms y-o-y.