Antwerp’s diamond trade remained largely steady in 2018, registering a marginal rise in value of polished exports and a marginal drop in value of rough exports, with both segments reporting a small drop in volume terms, according to figures released by the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) yesterday.

During the year gone by, rough exports totalled 121.41 mn cts at US$ 12.46 bn, which represents a drop of 5.04% in volume terms and a marginal drop of 1.16% in value terms, while rough imports of 92.79 mn cts at US$ 10.68 bn were similarly down by 2.63% in volume terms and a marginal 0.43% in value terms year-on-year.

Polished exports during 2018 stood at 4.79 mn cts at US$ 11.45 bn, with a small 4.47% dip in volume terms, but a very marginal 0.44% increase in value terms, while polished imports of 5.74 mn cts at US$ 11.45 bn, were up 1.65% in volume terms and 2.90% in value terms y-o-y.

The figures come on the back of a significant decline in polished trade during the month of December, even as the rough trade shot up strongly in volume terms, while remaining flat in value terms.

During the last month of 2018, the centre exported over 13.32 million carats of rough at a value of US$ 1,111 million, a significant year-on-year decline of 10.86% in terms of volume, and 34.45% in value terms. Rough imports were up by a small margin of 2.75% to 8.32 mn cts but declined sharply by 11.52% in value terms to US$ 872.17 million – as compared to a year earlier.

In December 2018, the Antwerp centre exported 368,368 cts of polished at a value of US$ 754.39 million, a dip of 23.27% in volume terms, and of 18.38% in value terms year-on-year. During the month, the centre imported 324,957 cts of polished at a value of US$ 714.12 mn, registering a decline of 8.74% in volume terms and a larger 13.92% dip in value terms as compared to December 2017.