The Israeli Diamond Industry saw impressive growth in almost all trade parameters during the first three quarters of 2013, according to Israel Ministry of Economy’s Diamond Controller Shmuel Mordechai, who published figures for Israel’s diamond imports and exports from January – September 2013.

The United States continued to be Israel’s major market for polished diamonds, accounting for 35% of the market, with exports of $1.6 billion. Hong Kong was the next largest market with 28% of exports or $1.3 billion. Switzerland accounted for 9.6% with exports of $447 million and Belgium was the next largest market with 7.6% or $350 million. All of Israel’s other export markets combined stood at 19.8% of the total with a value of $919 million.

Moti Ganz, Chairman of the Israel Diamond Institute Group of Companies (IDI) said that he was confident that the Israeli Diamond Industry would continue to grow. “While the economic challenges facing the entire diamond industry are still upon us, we are seeing a rebound in the United States and many of our European markets. We are also certain that Asian markets will show renewed growth in the near future. We look forward to continuing this positive trend during the rest of 2013 and the following year,” Ganz said.

IDI Managing Director Eli Avidar said, “The Israeli Diamond Industry has been very proactive this year. The two international buying events we held in Ramat Gan – “the US & International Diamond Weeks” in March and in August – were extremely successful and exceeded all expectations. We are also holding an additional “Israel Diamond Week” in New York together with the Diamond Dealers’ Club, which is oversubscribed. Moreover, our industry’s participation in IDI national pavilions in major trade shows has been overwhelming. Ours is a very vital and dynamic industry, which is developing and expanding all the time. We are very positive about Israel’s diamond trade going forward.”