Overall, the value of diamond exports dropped by an average -44.1% for all exporting countries since 2016 when global shipments of diamonds were valued at $132.1 billion. From 2019 to 2020, the value of exported diamonds declined by over a third (-34.9%).
The 5 major exporters of diamonds (India, Hong Kong, United States, Belgium, United Arab Emirates) generated over three-quarters (68.6%) of international diamond sales in 2020.
Among continents, Asian countries sold $40.7 billion or 55.7% worth of exported diamonds in 2020. European exporters generated 18.8% trailed by North American diamond suppliers at 15.4%.
Smaller percentages of global diamond exports belong to Africa (9.7%), Australia and New Zealand in Oceania (0.4%), then Latin America (0.04%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean.
For research purposes, the 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix is 7102 for unmounted and unset diamonds.
Diamond Exports by Country
Countries
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of diamonds during 2020.
- India: US$15.2 billion (20.6% of total diamonds exports)
- Hong Kong: $10.5 billion (14.2%)
- United States: $10.4 billion (14.1%)
- Belgium: $8.2 billion (11.1%)
- United Arab Emirates: $6.4 billion (8.6%)
- Israel: $5.4 billion (7.3%)
- Botswana: $3.8 billion (5.1%)
- Russia: $3.2 billion (4.4%)
- South Africa: $1.4 billion (1.9%)
- Switzerland: $1.2 billion (1.6%)
- China: $1.1 billion (1.5%)
- Thailand: $933.1 million (1.3%)
- Canada: $896 million (1.2%)
- Singapore: $790.7 million (1.1%)
- United Kingdom: $761.9 million (1%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 94.9% of global diamonds exported in 2020.
All the above countries posted declines in their sales of exported diamonds led by: United Kingdom (down -60.6%), Israel (down -52.1%), Canada (down -45.4%), United Arab Emirates (down -45%) and Switzerland (down -42.3%).
Advantages
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for unset diamonds during 2020. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the surplus between the value of each country’s diamond exports and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- Russia: US$3.1 billion (net export surplus down -12.6% since 2019)
- Botswana: $1.8 billion (down -39.2%)
- Israel: $1.5 billion (down -77.6%)
- South Africa: $982.3 million (down -5.9%)
- Namibia: $683.2 million (down -21.6%)
- Canada: $636.8 million (down -51%)
- Angola: $394.9 million (down -67.5%)
- Lesotho: $374.5 million (up 236.6%)
- United Arab Emirates: $260.1 million (down -58.2%)
- Belgium: $199.2 million (down -83.4%)
- United Kingdom: $164 million (up 116%)
- Zimbabwe: $141 million (up 21%)
- Democr. Rep. Congo: $113.5 million (down -27.3%)
- Sierra Leone: $41 million (down -63.6%)
- Tanzania: $33.2 million (down -71.4%)
Overtaking Israel in 2020, the Russian Federation garnered the highest surplus in the international trade of unmounted diamonds. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms Russia’s strong competitive advantage in the global diamond trade.
Opportunities
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for unset diamonds during 2020. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the deficit between the value of each country’s diamond import purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- China: -US$4.8 billion (net export deficit down -21.5% since 2019)
- United States: -$2.1 billion (down -15.2%)
- Hong Kong: -$910.4 million (down -75.8%)
- India: -$686.2 million (up 213.6%)
- Japan: -$444.8 million (down -32.8%)
- Thailand: -$349.6 million (down -27.7%)
- Switzerland: -$302.2 million (down -12.7%)
- Italy: -$294.4 million (down -47.3%)
- France: -$278.5 million (down -54.3%)
- Germany: -$135.3 million (down -22.1%)
- Vietnam: -$90.4 million (reversing a $79.2 million surplus)
- Singapore: -$85.8 million (up 53.8%)
- Turkey: -$83.9 million (down -41.7%)
- South Korea: -$77.4 million (up 23.6%)
- Australia: -$75.7 million (reversing a $7.3 million surplus)
China and the United States incurred the highest deficits in the international trade of unmounted diamonds. In turn, these negative cashflows highlight those countries’ strong competitive disadvantages for this specific product category. Also revealed are opportunities for diamond-supplying countries that help satisfy the powerful demand from consumers living in these powerful economies.
Companies
Diamond Exporting Companies
Below are companies that dominate the global diamond trade based on Bain & Company’s 2016 Diamond Industry Report. Shown within parenthesis is the country where the company is headquartered.
- De Beers (Luxembourg)
- ALROSA (Russia)
- Rio Tinto Group (United Kingdom)
- Dominion Diamond Corporation (Canada)
- Petra (Jersey)
Israel Diamond Exchange is the world’s biggest diamond trading business.
According to global trade intelligence firm Zepol, the following companies are multinational diamond traders located in the country shown within parentheses.
- Hari Krishna Exports Pvt. Ltd. (India)
- Debswana Diamond Company Ltd. (Botswana)
- Namibia Diamond Trading Company (Namibia)
Searchable List of Diamond Exporting Countries in 2020
Itemized below are the export sales of diamonds from the 93 supplying countries in 2020.
The 5 fastest-growing diamond exporters from 2019 to 2020 are Albania (up 3,580%), Bahrain (up 2,901%), Czech Republic (up 576.4%), Laos (up 545.6%) and Norway (up 357.1%).
| Rank | Exporter | Exported Diamonds (US$) | 2019-20 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | India | $15,213,101,000 | -30.4% |
| 2. | Hong Kong | $10,502,278,000 | -24.8% |
| 3. | United States | $10,388,779,000 | -41.4% |
| 4. | Belgium | $8,167,972,000 | -29.6% |
| 5. | United Arab Emirates | $6,359,622,000 | -45% |
| 6. | Israel | $5,414,567,000 | -52.1% |
| 7. | Botswana | $3,754,115,000 | -20.9% |
| 8. | Russia | $3,246,473,000 | -13.8% |
| 9. | South Africa | $1,369,581,000 | -14.7% |
| 10. | Switzerland | $1,172,310,000 | -42.3% |
| 11. | China | $1,107,229,000 | -34.3% |
| 12. | Thailand | $933,100,000 | -38.7% |
| 13. | Canada | $896,007,000 | -45.4% |
| 14. | Singapore | $790,691,000 | -29.8% |
| 15. | United Kingdom | $761,851,000 | -60.6% |
| 16. | Namibia | $758,281,000 | -33.1% |
| 17. | Angola | $394,927,000 | -67.5% |
| 18. | Lesotho | $374,552,000 | +236.6% |
| 19. | Australia | $290,791,000 | -32.2% |
| 20. | France | $206,915,000 | -28.7% |
| 21. | Italy | $142,091,000 | -11.3% |
| 22. | Zimbabwe | $140,978,000 | +21% |
| 23. | Democr. Rep. Congo | $113,460,000 | -27.3% |
| 24. | Vietnam | $108,579,000 | -71.7% |
| 25. | Sri Lanka | $96,137,000 | -26.4% |
| 26. | Armenia | $65,630,000 | +21.2% |
| 27. | Mauritius | $65,514,000 | -28.3% |
| 28. | Germany | $48,452,000 | -42.6% |
| 29. | Sierra Leone | $41,360,000 | -63.4% |
| 30. | Turkey | $37,113,000 | -34.9% |
| 31. | Tanzania | $33,237,000 | -71.4% |
| 32. | Brazil | $28,563,000 | -17.8% |
| 33. | Cambodia | $27,064,000 | -45.3% |
| 34. | Japan | $23,224,000 | -70.8% |
| 35. | Lebanon | $15,859,000 | -93.4% |
| 36. | Laos | $14,855,000 | +545.6% |
| 37. | Malaysia | $13,883,000 | -48.2% |
| 38. | Netherlands | $11,293,000 | +0.5% |
| 39. | Taiwan | $10,909,000 | -81.9% |
| 40. | Spain | $7,772,000 | -42.8% |
| 41. | Liberia | $7,402,000 | -42% |
| 42. | Central African Rep. | $6,983,000 | +5.2% |
| 43. | Mexico | $5,463,000 | -82.4% |
| 44. | Czech Republic | $4,458,000 | +576.5% |
| 45. | South Korea | $4,150,000 | -6.1% |
| 46. | Denmark | $3,726,000 | +21% |
| 47. | Belarus | $3,218,000 | 0% |
| 48. | Guinea | $3,158,000 | -84% |
| 49. | Austria | $2,765,000 | -11.9% |
| 50. | Bahrain | $2,131,000 | +2901% |
| 51. | Ukraine | $1,848,000 | -52.1% |
| 52. | Qatar | $1,524,000 | 0% |
| 53. | Ireland | $1,324,000 | -24.9% |
| 54. | Greece | $1,309,000 | +79.3% |
| 55. | Guyana | $541,000 | -92.5% |
| 56. | Sweden | $412,000 | -69.5% |
| 57. | Ghana | $374,000 | -54.7% |
| 58. | Guinea-Bissau | $350,000 | 0% |
| 59. | New Zealand | $298,000 | -61.6% |
| 60. | Finland | $234,000 | +260% |
| 61. | Ivory Coast | $207,000 | -79.7% |
| 62. | British Virgin Is. | $207,000 | -99.2% |
| 63. | Albania | $184,000 | +3580% |
| 64. | Indonesia | $155,000 | +124.6% |
| 65. | Poland | $136,000 | -86.3% |
| 66. | Jordan | $135,000 | +175.5% |
| 67. | Croatia | $127,000 | 0% |
| 68. | Dominican Republic | $122,000 | -81.9% |
| 69. | Barbados | $104,000 | -90.9% |
| 70. | Norway | $96,000 | +357.1% |
| 71. | Belize | $91,000 | -72.3% |
| 72. | Lithuania | $86,000 | +207.1% |
| 73. | Estonia | $83,000 | -26.5% |
| 74. | Hungary | $78,000 | -94.7% |
| 75. | Macao | $74,000 | 0% |
| 76. | Congo | $63,000 | +270.6% |
| 77. | Slovakia | $43,000 | +19.4% |
| 78. | Zambia | $42,000 | +31.3% |
| 79. | Serbia | $31,000 | -26.2% |
| 80. | Oman | $31,000 | 0% |
| 81. | Ecuador | $21,000 | 0% |
| 82. | Kenya | $10,000 | 0% |
| 83. | Bulgaria | $10,000 | -99.8% |
| 84. | Cameroon | $9,000 | -86.6% |
| 85. | Nicaragua | $9,000 | 0% |
| 86. | Panama | $7,000 | -100% |
| 87. | Greenland | $7,000 | 0% |
| 88. | Cyprus | $6,000 | -95.4% |
| 89. | Bangladesh | $4,000 | -91.1% |
| 90. | Portugal | $4,000 | -97.2% |
| 91. | Luxembourg | $3,000 | -96.4% |
| 92. | Pakistan | $2,000 | -33.3% |
| 93. | Slovenia | $2,000 | 0% |
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of any of the columns above. The right-most column records the change in value for exported diamonds from 2019 to 2020. An entry of 0% in that column means that no 2019 data is available.
See also Diamond Imports by Country, Exported Paintings and Drawings by Country and Beauty Cosmetics and Skincare Exports by Country
Research Sources:
Bain & Company, Diamond Industry Report 2016 (p10) . Accessed on July 7, 2021
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on July 7, 2021
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on July 7, 2021
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on July 7, 2021
Wikipedia, Diamond Mining Companies. Accessed on July 7, 2021
Zepol’s company summary highlights by HTS code. Accessed on July 7, 2021
