Israel’s Diamond Market is shrinking dramatically

According to the first monthly summary for 2023 published by the supervision of diamonds in the Ministry of Economy and Industry the outlook is not so good. The diamond market is shrinking dramatcically.

In total, in the month of January this year, the net import of rough diamonds to Israel amounted to approximately 117 million dollars, a decrease of approximately 31% compared to the month of January last year. The net export of rough diamonds this month amounted to approximately 114 million dollars , a decrease of about 44% compared to the first month of 2022.   

The net import of polished diamonds in the month of January amounted to approximately 216 million dollars, a decrease of approximately 29% compared to January 2022, while in the export of net polished diamonds, which amounted to approximately 320 million dollars in January, a similar decrease of approximately 29% compared to the first month of 2022.  

During the month of January of this year, the export of rough diamonds to the United Arab Emirates amounted to approximately 32.5 million dollars, which is approximately 28% of Israel’s overall export of rough diamonds this month. In addition, rough diamonds worth about 35 million dollars were imported from the United Arab Emirates to Israel, which make up about 30% of the total rough diamonds imported to Israel this month. 

Ofir Gor, the supervisor of diamonds at the Ministry of Economy and Industry “The global trend of a decrease in the diamond trade is also evident in the last month’s figures in Israel, which are not surprising.

However, it is estimated that towards the middle of the year, the negative trend is predicted to change in a positive direction, due to the growth of the jewelry market in the US and the reopening of the Chinese market, the two main export markets for Israeli industry.“