After having lost out to India, the Middle East is now eyeing to be among the top three regions in sales of loose diamonds. Middle East is currently placed in the fourth position after US, Japan and India.
In December 2006, Israel’s polished diamond exports dropped by 11.7 per cent to $331 million, according to the ministry of industry, trade and labour. During the whole of last year Israel’s polished exports declined by 1.5 per cent to $6.61 billion.%%Rough diamond imports in December soared by 44.6 per cent to $531 million, but dropped by 11.4 per cent to $4.7 billion during the entire year.%%Rough exports grew by 23.8 per cent in December to $173 million, while falling 23.2 per cent to $2.7 billion during 2006.%%Israel’s polished diamond imports grew by 8.7 per cent to $516 million. Full year polished imports were $4 billion, marking a year-on-year increase of 3.3 per cent.
Be the first to comment