polished imports to Japan showed a decrease of 3% on a year-on-year basis, to $ 64.5 million, Momozawa reports with reference to the statistics of the Ministry of Finance. In the meantime, diamond imports by volume jumped by 47% compared to August 2012, amounting to 200,512 carats, while the average value of imported diamonds decreased by 33% to $ 322 per carat, Rapaport reports.
Japanese imports of polished diamonds from India remained at the level of last year at $ 35.2 million. Imports of polished diamonds from Belgium showed an increase of 52% to $ 11.5 million, while imports from Israel fell 31% to $ 3.1 million , while imports from Hong Kong decreased by 41% to $ 3.9 million.
In the first eight months of 2013, Japanese polished imports declined 6% to $ 553.8 million. The volume of imports from January to August 2013 grew by 25% year-on-year to 1.575 million carats.