Diamonds: January – February exports up 11.2%

According to figures published by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, net polished diamond exports (subtracting returns), totaled in February 2005, $662 million, compared with $598 million in February 2004, an increase of 10.7%.
 
Supervisor of Diamonds Mr. Shmuel Mordechai told the press that net polished diamond exports totaled $1.314 billion in January-February 2005, compared with $1.182 billion in the same months of last year, an increase of 11.2%.
 
Mr. Shmuel Mordechai noted that net rough diamond exports totaled $299 million in February 2005, compared with $284 million in February 2004, an increase of 5%.
 
Rough diamond imports totaled $394 million in February, compared with $492 million in February 2004, a decline of 19.9%. Net polished diamond imports totaled $321 million in February, compared with $272 million in February 2004, an increase of 17.9%.
 
Supervisor of Diamonds Shmuel Mordechai said net polished exports had grown by 11.2% since the beginning of the year, and rough diamond imports had fallen by 7.6%.
 
Mordechai also noted that the US is still Israel's main diamond market, accounting for just over 56% of exports, followed by Hong Kong - 21%; Belgium - 10%, Switzerland - 3%, and the UK - 2%.