Belgium's polished diamonds exports down 12%

Belgium's polished diamond exports fell 12% year on year to €920million in March, reports Diamonds.net. The figures were released by the Antwerp World Diamond Centre. By export volume, the number of polished carats fell 5.9% to €614,601 and the average price per carat dropped 6% to €1,500. Polished diamond imports declined 2.8% to €960million, leaving Belgium with a polished export deficit of €40million compared with a surplus of almost €58million just one year ago. Rough diamond imports in March fell 13.2% to €900million, while rough exports dropped 3.9%  to €1.07billion. For the first quarter of 2013, Belgium's polished exports dropped by 6% percent to €2.55billion and polished imports by 13% to €2.44billion.