Ramat Gan: Israel’s exports of polished diamonds fell 12% y-o-y to $3.38 bn during the first nine months of 2017, while in volume terms, diamonds exported dropped 11% to 1.297 mn karats, as per a report in diamonds.net.

Shipments to the US, Israel’s largest market, declined 15% to $1.26 bn during the nine-month period, while exports to Hong Kong slid 3% to $1.01 bn. Polished imports too declined 15% to $2.01 bn, indicating a fall of 7% to $1.38bn in net polished exports.

Rough imports dropped 12% to $2.09 bn, with rough exports sliding 10% to $1.8 bn, thereby showing Israel’s net rough imports falling 18% to $294 mn. Thereby, the country’s net diamond account declined 62% to $808 mn.