14-7-2021
Polished diamond imports to China reach US$1.576 billion in the first half of 2021, representing a 68.4 percent soar yoy over 2019 and exceeded the annual import of 2020, reported Shanghai Diamond Exchange (SDE).
Due to COVID-19 pandemic, China’s diamond imports plummeted around 50 percent in 2019 and 2020. The retail market recovered in the fourth quarter of 2020 and the hard-hit wedding market rebounded in the beginning of 2021. The growth momentum has brought the country’s diamond transactions on track to outperform 2019 and break the all-time-high of US$2.78 billion set in 2018.
“The strong rebound of diamond imports not only benefits from the quick recovery of China’s economy, specifically the release of consumption power restrained by the pandemic and the appreciation of the RMB which offset the increase of diamond prices in USD, but also results from the strategic move of anti-smuggling and anti-money laundering initiated by the Chinese government,” said Lin Qiang, president of SDE and vice chairman of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB). (Thumbnail courtesy: Alrosa)
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