EU diamond export revenues fell 1.5 times after Russian Federation imposed diamond supply restrictions

Minsk, September 1 /Corr. Belta/. After the introduction of restrictions on Russian gems, EU diamond export revenues fell by almost one and a half times in the second half of the year, one of the worst results in history. The data is provided by RIA Novosticiting Eurostat calculations.

Since the beginning of this year, the EU has imposed restrictions on the import of non-industrial Russian natural and synthetic diamonds directly from the Russian Federation. From March 1, the ban was extended to stones cut from other countries over 1 carat, and from September 1 to stones over 0.5 carat.

As a result, the EU earned 3.2 billion euros from diamond exports in the first half of this year, compared to 4.7 billion euros in the same period last year. For the association, this is the second worst indicator in history – revenues fell only during the pandemic in 2020 (2.5 billion euros), while revenues were close to current levels in 2009 at the height of the global financial crisis (3.6 billion euros).

Belgium bore the brunt of the losses – it accounts for 94% of all EU diamond exports. During this period, it missed out on 1.5 billion euros, sending only $3 billion worth of gems abroad.

The main reason for the decline in EU revenues was a sharp drop in imports – also down 1.5 times to 3.7 billion euros. At the same time, all major diamond traders on the world market saw a reduction in purchases. The biggest drop was in the UAE: imports from there fell 3.5 times to 200 million euros. Imports from Canada fell 1.6 times to 420 million euros, while imports from India and Botswana fell by a quarter, to 1 billion euros and 433 million euros, respectively.

Russia has not supplied the EU with natural or synthetic gemstones for more than a year – the last shipment of gemstones worth $1 million or more was in June 2023, and the steady flow of large quantities stopped even earlier – in June 2022. If we compare the current EU diamond export revenues with the first half of 2022, we see a drop of half in two years -0-.