Data released by the US government and quoted by Rough & Polished shows a fall of 14% year-on-year in US polished diamond imports in October, totaling $1.81 billion.
By volume, polished imports went down 13% to 881,922 carats. Polished prices declined 1% with the average price totaling $2,049 per carat. Polished exports fell 5% to $1.24 billion. Therefore, net polished imports (imports minus exports) fell 29% to $567 million.
Rough imports totaled $124 million, compared with $51 million a year ago. Rough exports fell 61% to $46 million. Net rough imports (imports minus exports) “stood at positive $78 million versus negative $67 million a year ago”. The US net diamond account (total rough and polished imports minus total exports) declined 11% to $646 million in October.
As for the first ten months of the year, polished imports dropped 8% to $18.38 billion, while polished exports declined 4% to $15.21 billion. Rough imports rose 14% to $738 million, while rough exports rose 51% to $608 million. The net diamond account down 24% to $3.3 billion.
