Editor’s Note
This article highlights a critical downturn in Antwerp’s diamond trade, with imports of rough diamonds plummeting by 38% in a year, pushing the historic market toward potential collapse. The situation underscores significant challenges facing the global diamond industry.
The diamond trade in Antwerp is historically at its lowest point, even on the brink of collapse, reports the Gazet van Antwerpen on Wednesday. The import of rough diamonds to Antwerp has fallen by 38% in one year.
Over a decade, the decline is even around 70%. The trade in polished diamonds is also at its lowest.
The Antwerp diamond sector comprises 1,600 companies and 6,000 jobs.
The Gazet van Antwerpen points to several reasons for this decline of the Antwerp jewel. On one hand, the European embargo on Russian diamonds, but also competition from synthetic diamonds and weakened purchasing power in China and the United States. Americans are the biggest consumers of Antwerp’s polished diamonds, ahead of those from Hong Kong.
However, bureaucracy and the numerous rules applied to this trade also weigh on Antwerp diamond dealers.
Another source in the sector affirms that the Antwerp pipeline is indeed smaller, but more reliable and of higher quality, thanks to new transparency standards on the origin of the stones.