witnessed in the past five years rising popularity of diamonds, due to the rising price compared to other jewelry, said Kuwaiti jewelry expert Ziad Hamad Al-Fares on Saturday.

Speaking to KUNA, he added the diamond extraction during 2010 amounted to 133.1 carats increasing seven percent compared to 2009. The carat price increases yearly.

Kuwait is in high demand for the Belgian diamond, which its price index rose from USD 25,000 in 1960 to USD 30,000 in 2010, he pointed out.

The volume of trade in Kuwait, according to statistics issued by the Ministry of Commerce, which included gold jewelry, watches and contracts with diamonds in 2010, reached more than 20 tons of jewelry artifacts from local and external, five tons external for gold and six tons of local as well as 5.5 of gold bars and four tons of silver artifacts, in which 6,860 pieces had been examined.(end) mf.rda.hs KUNA 081131 Oct 11NNNN