China may have nudged Japan out as the world's #2 consumer of diamonds after the US, but Japan's imports of polished diamonds are continuing to rise, according to recently released figures.

Momozawa & Co reports that Japan's polished diamond imports for the first 10 months of 2010 are up 11.5% compared to January-October 2009, totaling $583.8 million.

In October 2010, Japan imported $74.2 million worth of polished diamonds – an 11% year-on-year increase.

India was Japan's biggest diamond supplier, providing 217,437 carats of polished diamonds with a value of $35.7 million. Belgium sold Japan $13.6 million carats of diamonds with a high per-carat price of $1,604. Japan also imported $9.3 million worth of polished diamonds from Hong Kong.