The Belgian diamond industry continued to power forward in March and the first quarter of 2011, with most categories of rough and polished imports and exports rising in both carat and financial terms, according to figures published by the Antwerp World Diamond Centre Diamond Office.

Belgian polished diamond exports last month soared 39.4 percent in volume terms from March last year to 970,475 carats, while rising 16.4 percent to $1.30 billion.

For the first three months of 2011, polished diamond exports soared 30.1 percent in volume terms on the same period of 2010 to 2.34 million carats, while jumping 30.0 percent to $3.43 billion.

In the rough diamond category, Belgium exported 12.5 million carats in March, a fall of 8.1 percent, but in financial terms there was a jump of 33.9 percent to $1.35 billion.

In the January-March period, Belgium exported 34.1 million carats of rough diamonds, a slight decline of 2.1 percent, but in financial terms there was a jump of 29.1 percent to $3.52 billion.

In polished diamond imports, Belgium bought 959,953 carats in March, a rise of 23.0 percent from March 2010, with a 17.6 percent increase in financial terms to $1.34 billion.

For the first three months of 2011, Belgium imported 2.43 million carats of polished diamonds, a rise of 21.5 percent on the year, with a 26.2 percent rise in financial terms to $3.20 billion.

As for imports of rough diamonds, Belgium bought 10.6 million carats worth $1.27 billion in March, a rise of 4.7 percent in volume terms, but an increase of 49.1 percent, in financial terms from March 2010.

In the January-March period, Belgium imported 30.9 million carats of rough diamonds, a decrease of 2.2 percent on the year, but in financial terms there was a jump of 40.8 percent to $3.38 billion.