Japan’s polished diamond imports rose 2.6 percent year on year to $75.4 million in March, ‎Momozawa reported citing the Finance Ministry. By volume, imports grew 20 percent ‎to 177,067 carats, while the average price dropped 15 percent to $426 per ‎carat.

‎Polished diamond imports from India decreased 30 percent year on year to $28.6 million, while imports from Belgium rose 36 percent to $14.7 million and imports from Israel increased 32 percent to $6.5 million. Polished imports from Hong Kong almost tripled to $11.6 million during the month, while imports from the United States grew 63 percent to $3.3 million.

‎During the first three months of the year, Japan's polished imports decreased 6 percent to $203.3 million, while the volume of imports rose 21 percent to 569,415 carats.