Following nine months of sharply rising rough and polished diamond imports and exports, statistics released by the Antwerp World Diamond Centre's Diamond Office show a more mixed performance for October. The figures are likely the result of a slowdown in the global diamond market in recent months which has seen demand and prices decline.

The AWDC statistics show the U.S. dollar value of exports of polished diamonds in October rose just 5.41 percent to $1.11 billion compared to October 2010. The rise in financial terms has generally been in the high double-digits this year. Meanwhile, in volume terms, there was a 35.7-percent drop to 532,770 carats.

The average price per carat for polished exports was therefore $2,074 in October compared with $2,244 in September, and an average price of $1,268 in October 2010.

During January-October, exports of polished goods rose by 33.4 percent to $12.18 billion, while in volume terms they increased by a more moderate 13.2 percent to 7.18 million carats.

As for exports of rough diamonds, they declined by 21.2 percent to $742.9 million in October, but recorded a 57.5-percent fall on the year in volume terms to 4.13 million carats.

The average price per carat of rough diamonds equaled $180, compared with a figure of $97 in October 2010, a rise of 85 percent.

During the first 10 months of this year, Belgium exported 89.9 million carats of rough goods, a 15.1 percent fall on a year earlier, but 33.7 percent higher in financial terms at $12.06 billion.

In polished diamond imports, Belgium brought in 702,740 carats of in October, a decline of 16.2 percent from October 2010, but a 26.4 percent rise to $1.19 billion. For the first 10 months of this year, Belgium imported 7.75 million carats of polished diamonds, a rise of 14.9 percent on October 2010, and 36.7 percent higher in financial terms to $11.78 billion.

In rough diamonds, Belgium imported 6.46 million carats worth $900.7 million in October, a drop of 30.6 percent in volume terms, and just 6.7 percent up in financial terms on a year earlier. During the first 10 months of this year, Belgium imported 86.3 million carats of rough diamonds, a decline of 5.4 percent on last year, but in financial terms there was a jump of 48.0 percent to $11.6 billion.