The summary for the month of November published by the supervision of diamonds in the Ministry of Economy and Industry indicates decreases in the four main trade categories of the industry in Israel: import and export of polished diamonds and rough diamonds.
In total, in the first eleven months of the year, the net import of rough diamonds to Israel amounted to approximately 1.68 billion dollars, a decrease of approximately 8% compared to the corresponding period last year (in the month of November there was a decrease of approximately 30% compared to the month of November 2021 ).The net export of rough diamonds during that period amounted to approximately 1.46 billion dollars, a decrease of approximately 9.5% compared to the first eleven months in 2021 (when in the month of November a sharp decrease of approximately 52% was recorded compared to the month of November last year).
The net import of polished diamonds in the first eleven months of the year amounted to approximately 2.96 billion dollars, an increase of approximately 11% compared to the corresponding period in 2021 (when in November there was a decrease of approximately 7.5% compared to November last year) while in the export of polished diamonds net , which amounted to approximately 3.7 billion dollars, an increase of approximately 9% was recorded compared to the corresponding period in 2021 (while in November 2022 a steep decrease of approximately 85% was recorded compared to November last year).
In the last month, the export of rough diamonds to the United Arab Emirates amounted to about 10.7 million dollars, which is about 14% of Israel’s general export of rough diamonds in November. This month, rough diamonds worth about 25.7 million dollars will be imported from the United Arab Emirates to Israel, which is about 21% of the total rough diamonds imported to Israel in November. Meanwhile, for the first time – Israeli diamond exports to Bahrain began. According to the Diamond Administration’s estimate, it may reach millions of shekels in the coming year.
Since last February, when the war in Ukraine began and as a result, sanctions were imposed on Russia, the source of about a third of the rough diamonds in the world, by the USA and other countries, the global diamond industry (of which Dubai, Mumbai, Antwerp and Ramat Gan can be named among its centers) suffers from great volatility which includes, to some extent, sales declines and price declines.
However, a source of some optimism can be found in jewelry sales in the US, the data of which indicate an increase during the current holiday period and during the online sales days last November, compared to the corresponding period last year, which may lead to the replenishment of stocks there in the coming months.
Ofir Gore, the supervisor of diamonds at the Ministry of Economy and Industry: “Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the sanctions imposed on Russia, the rise in interest rates and all these effects on the global economy, the Israeli diamond industry, similar to the global one, has experienced great volatility, certainly compared to 2021 which was excellent for the industry, In Israel and in the world. The declines of the last few months can be attributed to the difficulty of finding a sufficient alternative to the rough diamonds from Russia, to the decline in sales and prices of diamonds in the world.”