Demand for rough and polished diamonds by buyers from across the globe showed no signs of abating, according to Antwerp's imports and exports for July published by the Antwerp World Diamond Centre's Diamond Office. Despite media reports in recent weeks suggesting that the sharp rise in prices for both rough and polished diamonds in the first half of this year, of 30-40 percent, were likely to slow down, Antwerp's diamond sector saw demand continuing to surge.

Belgium's polished diamond exports in July rose by 11.6 percent in volume terms from July last year to 861,553 carats, while rising 36.5 percent to $1.4 billion.

For the first seven months of 2011, polished diamond exports jumped 23.7 percent in volume terms on the same period of 2010 to 5.33 million carats, while jumping 34.5 percent to $8.09 billion.

In the rough diamond category, Belgium exported 13.2 million carats in July, an increase of 19.0 percent, however in financial terms there was a jump of 87.9 percent to $1.82 billion.

In the January-July period, Belgium exported 75.8 million carats of rough diamonds, which was 5.4 percent down on the year before, but in financial terms there was a rise of 44.5 percent to $9.42 billion.

In polished diamond imports, Belgium bought 611,673 carats in July, a rise of 22.5 percent from July 2010, with a 65.7 percent rise in dollar terms to $818.3 million.

For the first seven months of 2011, Belgium imported 4.90 million carats of polished diamonds, a rise of 28.0 percent on July 2010, and 49.5 percent more in financial terms to $5.53 billion.

In the rough diamond imports category, Belgium bought 8.24 million carats worth $1.33 billion in July, a rise of 4.1 percent in volume terms, but in financial terms there was a 106.4 percent surge from July 2010.

In the January-July period, Belgium imported 62.9 million carats of rough diamonds, a decline of 5.6 percent on last year, but in financial terms there was a jump of 50.7 percent to $8.0 billion.