Antwerp: Antwerp is still the most important rough diamond trade hub in the world. This is according to the 2014 annual figures from the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, which monitors and maps out diamond production and distribution worldwide. The figures also reveal that the Antwerp rough diamond traders’ profit margins are under duress, with an average profit margin of 1%. The Antwerp World Diamond Centre also confirmed this in its own annual figures.
Antwerp is truly a global diamond hub. Looking only at that number of carats imported, India achieved higher figures than Antwerp, but this is a consequence of India being the global leader with regard to diamond manufacturing. Looking at the value of imported diamonds, Antwerp’s imported value of nearly 16 billion USD is a close second to India, which imported 17.2 billion USD.
Dubai and Israel, the most significant of Antwerp’s competitors, had much less favorable results than Antwerp, importing approximately a third of the diamonds in terms of value that Antwerp imported in 2014. Concerning exports, we note that Antwerp exported twice the value of diamonds (15.7 billion USD) as Dubai (8.3 billion USD) and four times as much as Israel (3.9 billion USD).
The table below contains the most relevant figures:
| IMPORTS | EXPORTS | |||||
| Volume in carats | Value in USD | USD/carat | Volume in carat | Value in USD | USD/carat | |
| Antwerp | 118,717,488.90 | 15,799,379,638.28 | 133.08 | 116,017,435.37 | 15,706,953,914.12 | 135.38 |
| India | 153,609,121.43 | 17,214,417,893.66 | 112.07 | 36,483,891.06 | 1,716,446,489.02 | 47.05 |
| U.A.E. | 68,132,733.58 | 5,906,158,518.64 | 86.69 | 66,784,409.50 | 8,305,737,419.73 | 124.37 |
| Israel | 14,624,882.17 | 4,871,742,197.90 | 333.11 | 14,242,733.16 | 3,916,298,322.63 | 274.97 |
Source: Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, 2014 annual figures
