Hong Kong's polished imports rose 4% year-on-year to $ 4,485 billion, Rapaport reported citing data released by the Diamond Federation of Hong Kong China Limited. The volume of polished imports for the reporting period increased by 5% to 5.608 million carats, and the average cost of imported stones decreased by 1% to $ 799.82 per carat.
Hong Kong's imports of diamonds from India rose by 20% to $ 2.19 billion during the reporting period. Imports of polished diamonds from Israel fell by 7% to $ 581.7 million. Imports of diamonds from Belgium increased by 3% to $ 478.9 million, while imports from the United States fell by 16% to $ 400.4 million.
The Hong Kong polished diamond exports in the first quarter of 2013 decreased by 10% to $ 2.962 billion. Thus, net polished imports jumped 49% year-on-year to $ 1.523 billion.
Hong Kong's imports of rough diamonds rose 45% to $ 464.49 million , while exports of rough diamonds jumped 61% to $ 695.86 million. Net diamond imports fell to a negative value of $ 231.37 million compared to a deficit of $ 112.55 million for the same period last year.
The Hong Kong net diamond account (the difference in aggregate imports and exports of diamonds and diamonds) rose 42% on a year-on-year basis to $ 1.292 billion.