Israel’s net polished diamond exports rose 24.1% in September to $704 million, compared to $567.4 million for the same month in 2004, according to statistics published by the Israel Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor’s Diamond Controller, Shmuel Mordechai. Israel’s net polished diamond exports rose 6.6 percent during the first nine months of 2005, reaching $5.2 billion, as compared to $4.9 billion during the same period in 2004.

Rough diamond exports from Israel rose 67.1 percent in September 2005 to reach $354.6 million, compared to $212.2 million in the same period last year. From January to September they rose 26.9 percent to total $2.860 billion, as compared to $2.254 billion for the same period in 2004.

Net imports of rough diamonds increased by 38.8 percent in September 2005, and totaled $618.2 million, as compared to $445.3 million in September 2004. During the first nine months of the year rough diamond imports increased by 6.8 percent, reaching $4.1 billion, as compared to $3.9 billion for the same period in 2004.

Israel’s imports of polished diamonds increased 18.3 percent in September 2005, reaching $353.9 million, as compared to $299.2 million in the same month last year. From January to September net imports of polished diamonds rose 12.1 percent to $2.786 billion, up from $2.485 billion in the same period in 2004.

For the first nine months of the year, polished exports to the U.S. declined 1 percent, but rose by 22 percent to Hong Kong, 7 percent to Belgium, 96 percent to Switzerland and 10 percent to China. The major export markets for Israel’s polished diamonds in August were the United States with 54 percent, Hong Kong 21 percent, Belgium 7 percent, Switzerland 6 percent and China 2 percent.

JCK