Israel's Polished Diamond Exports Down 5.5% from January -April 2006

In April 2006 net polished diamonond exports decreased by 22.5%. Net imports of rough diamonds increased 14%
 
Net polished diamond exports from Israel declined 5.5% since the beginning of  2006, reaching $2.160 billion, compared to $2.285 billion in the same period of 2005, according to statistics released by the Israel Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor's Diamond Controller, Shmuel Mordechai. In April 2006, net polished diamond exports decreased by 22.5% to reach $258.4 million, compared to $333.6 million during April 2005.
 
Net imports of rough diamonds increased 14.0% to total $334.0 million in April 2006, as compared to $292.7 million in the same month of 2005. From the beginning of the year net rough imports declined by 9.8%, totalling $1.447 billion compared to $1.603 billion in the same period of 2005.
 
Net rough diamond exports from Israel stood at $196.3 million in April 2006, a decline of 13.2% over April 2005, when they totaled $226.2 billion. For January - April 2006 rough exports were $966.4 million, a decline of 14.7% over the same period last year, when they were $1.132 billion.
 
Israel's net imports of polished diamonds in April increased by 5.3%, totaling $299.1 million, as compared to $284.0 million in the same month of 2005. Since the beginning of 2006 they increased by 3.5% to total $1.221 billion, compared to $1.180 billion in the same period of 2005.
 
Mordechai said that the decline in exports this month was due to a return of all goods sent to the Basel trade show, since Israeli exhibitors prefer to send goods directly from Israel.  Industry sources said that this effect is likely to be corrected next month. The major export markets for Israel's polished diamonds in April were the United States with 60%, Hong Kong 15%, Belgium 8%, England 3% and Japan 1%.