Antwerp remains most important rough diamond trade hub

Antwerp is still the most important rough diamond trade hub in the world. This is according to the 2014 annual figures from the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, which monitors and maps out diamond production and distribution worldwide. It may also be inferred from these figures that the margins of the Antwerp rough diamond traders are under pressure, with an average of 1%. Furthermore, the fact that the import and export figures are of the same order of magnitude makes it clear that not much rough is being sold, which explains why Antwerp diamond traders are going through such difficult times.

Antwerp is truly a global diamond hub. Looking only at that number of carats imported, India achieved higher figures than Antwerp, but this is a consequence of India being the global leader with regard to diamond manufacturing. Looking at the value of imported diamonds, Antwerp is a close second to India with an imported value of nearly 16 billion USD, with India importing 17.2 billion USD.

Dubai and Israel, the most significant of Antwerp’s competitors, had much less favorable results, importing approximately a third of the diamonds in terms of value that Antwerp imported in 2014. Concerning exports, we note that Antwerp exported twice the value of diamonds (15.7 billion USD) as Dubai (8.3 billion USD) and four times as many as Israel (3.9 billion USD).

The pdf below contains the most relevant figures.