The Dubai Diamond Exchange (DDE) said the total diamond trade volumes for 2010 reached 268.7 million carats, up by 50 per cent from 178.1 million, while the value doubled from $17.9 billion to $35.1 billion.

DDE, a leading global diamond trading platform, is a subsidiary of the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre Authority (DMCC).

“To facilitate the import and export of over $35 billion of diamonds through Dubai is an amazing achievement, especially under the challenging economic environment,” said Ahmed bin Sulayem, executive chairman of DMCC.

“From the beginning, our strategy has been to focus on providing the legal framework, purpose-built facilities, and value added services to facilitate the trade of diamonds through Dubai. As a result of our accomplishment, we are now one of the fastest growing diamond centres in the world, and service over 300 regional and international precious gem clients under one roof,” he added.

Polished diamond imports during the twelve months of 2010 rose 88 per cent to 90 million carats ($13.3 billion) and polished diamond exports rose 128 per cent to 73.6 million carats ($14.6 billion).

Dubai also recorded a 100 per cent increase in the volume of total polished diamonds traded, reaching 163.8 million carats.

Rough diamond imports, rose by up to 13 per cent during the year recording 50.4 million carats and exports by 3 per cent at 54.7 million carats. However, the value of rough diamonds increased dramatically during 2010 and this was reflected in the difference in value year on year.

The value of rough diamonds imported rose 83 per cent to $3.3 billion and rough diamonds exported by 81 per cent to $3.8 billion. Furthermore, Dubai’s rough diamond trade increased by 7 per cent reaching 105 million carats with the value growing by 82 per cent to $7.1 billion.

Dubai’s diamond trade was mainly driven by India, Belgium, Hong Kong and Switzerland which were the top trading partners, with growing trade emerging from new markets such as Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo. – TradeArabia News Service