MOSCOW, May 30: The European Union’s revenues from diamond exports in the first quarter of the year fell to a record low of 1.4 billion euros ($1.6 billion), Sputnik has calculated based on Eurostat data.
Sales in January-March fell by a third to $1.37 billion compared to $2 billion in the same period last year. Such a low revenue in the first quarter has never happened before in history: in 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic hit, EU countries earned 1.9 billion euros from diamond exports, and even in the midst of the global financial crisis in 2009 it was still a little more – 1.5 billion euros.
The main diamond exporter among EU countries traditionally was Belgium: its shipments decreased by a third and totalled 1.3 billion euros. German sales fell by 16% to 9.5 million euros, French sales fell by 2.5% to 43.1 million and Italian sales remained at 21.6 million.
The main reason is the physical reduction in the amount of diamonds entering the market. The EU does not mine diamonds itself, but imports them from other countries: in the first quarter, imports dropped by a quarter in annual terms and amounted to 2.25 tonnes. India and the United Arab Emirates remain the main suppliers to the EU, accounting for almost two-thirds of all European purchases. Indian exports in absolute terms declined by 36% to 850 kilograms (1,874 Ibs) and UAE exports by 30% to 550 kilograms.
Meanwhile, prices also sagged: over the past year, based on the data from the international diamond exchange IDEX as of May 29, the index of the average cost per carat fell by 12% to 93.3 points – the lowest value since at least 2003 (earlier data is not publicly available).
(UNI)
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