Trade in rough diamonds in Antwerp continued to remain well below the levels of a year earlier, with both imports and exports declining significantly in May, while the trade in polished though still down in volume terms, did register an upturn in terms of value, according to figures released by the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC).

During the month of May 2019, the Antwerp centre exported over 6.70 million carats of rough at a value of US$ 741.49 million, a year-on-year decline of 43.87% in terms of volume and 37.38% in terms of value. Rough imports too fell by 15.70% in volume terms and 15.94% in value terms – with 5.61 mn carats of rough being imported at US$ 760.89 million – as compared to a year earlier.

Trade in polished presented a mixed picture with volumes continuing to decline, while in value terms, exports remained flat and imports rose. In May 2019, the Antwerp centre exported 383,189 cts of polished at a value of US$ 1.18 billion, a drop of 12.79% in volume terms, and of a marginal 0.02% in value terms year-on-year. During the month, the centre imported 435,006 cts of polished at a value of US$ 1.05 billion, registering a fall of 3.28% in volume terms but a 5.77% rise in value terms as compared to May 2018.

During the first five months of 2019, rough exports totalled 43.09 mn cts at US$ 4.18 bn, showing a decrease of 22.74% in volume terms and of 27.44% in value terms, while rough imports of 32.45 mn cts at US$ 3.68 bn were down 21.76% y-o-y in volume terms and 26.72% in value terms.

Polished exports during Jan-May stood at 1.86 mn cts at US$ 5.08 bn, down 12.10% in volume and a mere 0.24% in value, and polished imports of 2.40 mn cts at US$ 5.15 bn, were down 8.29% in volume and up by 2.62% in value terms y-o-y.