BRUSSELS: Belgium’s polished diamond exports edged up 1.4 percent on the year to $1.12 billion in May, the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) reported.
However polished exports in the first five months of this year were down 8.7 percent to almost $5.01 billion
Meanwhile, exports of rough stones were down 2.9 percent to $1.24 billion in May.
For the January-May period, rough exports declined by 5.8 percent to $5.41 billion.
Rough imports last month fell 18.5 percent on the year before to $1.06 billion.
For the year so far, imports slipped 16 percent to $4.67 billion.
As for polished imports, they rose by 8.8 percent to just over $1 billion, but declined by 7.7 percent to close to $5 billion in the first five months of the year.