Belgian polished diamonds exports in December rose 13% by volume and 18.5% by value, compared to the same month in 2008, according to figures published by the Antwerp World Diamond Centre Diamond Office.

December polished exports totaled 687,791 carats, or $779.5 million in dollar terms.

For the year as a whole, Belgium’s polished exports fell 16.5% by volume to 7.28 million carats. By value, exports of polished was 30% lower at $8.63 billion, compares to January-December 2008.

Polished exports to the United States represented 27.5% of total polished diamond exports by value, and only 13.9% in volume for the year.

Hong Kong accounted for 21.5% of total polished exports by value and 20.2% by volume last year. Israel was the third largest importer of Belgian polished, representing 9.9% by value and 7.3% by volume of Belgium’s total polished exports.

Polished diamond imports rose 5.5% by volume to 563,879 carats in December, compared to December 2008. By value imports for the month totaled $640.8 million, an increase of 1.6% on prior year period.

For the full year, polished diamond imports were 23.6% lower at 7.35 million carats in volume terms. In value terms polished imports were 34.2% lower at $7.95 billion.

Rough diamond exports jumped 264.0% last month, from December 2008 to 11.96 million carats by volume. By value exports jumped 176.5% to $851.7 million.

For the full year of 2009, rough exports fell 16.5% by volume and 31% by value.

Rough diamond imports rose 46.1% by volume and 100.3% by value, compared to December 2008.

For 2009, rough diamond imports dropped 22.9% by volume and 39.2% by value.