Israeli polished diamond exports edged higher in 2014 despite a difficult global market, and industry leaders expect further growth in 2015. Exports of the polished stones rose 0.6 percent to $6.3 billion last year, while exports of both polished and rough diamonds together reached $9.3 billion, up from $9.2 billion in 2013, Israel's economy ministry said on Monday.
The global market faced numerous challenges in 2014, including a significant credit crunch, high rough prices and low profitability, according to Moti Ganz, chairman of the Israel Diamond Institute. He added that the Gaza war in July and August also harmed business somewhat but with the robust US market and renewed Asian growth, there should be increased demand for polished diamonds in 2015.
Due to the war, International Diamond Week, which was scheduled to take place in Israel last September, was cancelled and caused damage to the local sector of hundreds of millions of dollars, according to the economy ministry. The economy ministry's Diamond Controller, Shmuel Mordechai, noted that in 2014 there was a very small gap between prices for rough and polished diamonds. "2014 was a very difficult year for the diamond industry. All the world's diamond centres reported a significant drop in profitability," he said. Israel is a world centre for diamond cutting and polishing and accounts for a large portion of annual exports of more than $50 billion.
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