Japanese polished imports showed a 17.7% increase year-on-year, to $ 94.3 million, Momozawa said, citing statistics from the Ministry of Finance. Meanwhile, the volume of polished imports to Japan jumped 37% to 236,752 carats, and the average cost of imported stones fell 14% to $ 398 per carat.
Imports of polished diamonds from India declined by 5% year-on-year to $ 41 million. Imports of polished diamonds from Belgium increased by 20% to $ 19.5 million. Imports from Israel more than doubled to $ 13.2 million, while imports from Hong Kong jumped 97% to $ 7.5 million.
In the first nine months, Japanese polished imports declined 4% year-on-year to $ 648.2 million, while imports rose by 27% to 1,812 million carats.