Overall, the value of diamond exports dropped by an average -16.5% for all exporting countries since 2015 when global shipments of diamonds were valued at $128.6 billion. Year over year, the value of exported diamonds declined by -20.8% from 2018 to 2019.
Among continents, Asian countries sold $60.3 billion worth or 56.1% of worldwide diamonds exported in 2019. European exporters generated 18.7% trailed by North American diamond shippers at 18%, African sources at 6.6%, Oceanian diamond suppliers at 0.4% mostly in Australia, then Latin America (0.1%) 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 2019.
- India: US$21.9 billion (20.4% of total exported diamonds)
- United States: $17.7 billion (16.5%)
- Hong Kong: $14 billion (13%)
- Belgium: $11.8 billion (11%)
- Israel: $11.3 billion (10.5%)
- United Arab Emirates: $8.2 billion (7.6%)
- Russia: $3.8 billion (3.5%)
- Botswana: $3 billion (2.8%)
- Switzerland: $2 billion (1.9%)
- United Kingdom: $1.9 billion (1.8%)
- China: $1.7 billion (1.6%)
- Canada: $1.6 billion (1.5%)
- South Africa: $1.6 billion (1.5%)
- Thailand: $1.5 billion (1.4%)
- Namibia: $1.1 billion (1.1%)
The listed 15 countries shipped 96% of global diamonds exported in 2019 by value.
Among the top exporters, two top countries grew the value of their diamonds shipped compared to 2015 namely Russia (up 1.9%) and India (up 0.2%).
Those countries that posted declines in their exported diamonds sales were led by: Botswana (down -42.2%), Israel (down -35.8%), United Arab Emirates (down -33%), Belgium (down -24.0%) and China (down -22.2%).
Advantages
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for unset diamonds during 2019. 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.
- Israel: US$6.6 billion (net export surplus down -38.3% since 2015)
- Russia: $3.6 billion (down -2.1%)
- United Arab Emirates: $1.41 billion (up 77.6%)
- Botswana: $1.38 billion (down -49.1%)
- Canada: $1.3 billion (down -20.7%)
- Belgium: $1.2 billion (reversing a -$78.4 million deficit)
- South Africa: $1 billion (down -22.4%)
- Namibia: $871.5 million (down -21%)
- Angola: $487 million (down -65%)
- Lesotho: $442.9 million (reversing a -$1,000 deficit)
- Zimbabwe: $116.5 million (down -20.8%)
- Tanzania: $79.4 million (up 3917.8%)
- United Kingdom: $75.5 million (reversing a -$296.9 million deficit)
- Sierra Leone: $72.8 million (no 2015 data)
- Democratic Rep. Congo: $52 million (down -82.2%)
Israel garnered the highest surplus in the international trade of unmounted diamonds. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms Israel’s strong competitive advantage in the global diamond trade.
Opportunities
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for unset diamonds during 2019. 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$6.2 billion (net export deficit up 16.4% since 2015)
- Hong Kong: -$3.8 billion (down -8.7%)
- United States: -$2.5 billion (down -54.3%)
- Japan: -$662.4 million (down -9%)
- France: -$609.6 million (up 43.2%)
- Italy: -$528.7 million (down -2.7%)
- Thailand: -$483.5 million (reversing a $910.2 million surplus)
- Switzerland: -$346.3 million (down -44.5%)
- Vietnam: -$206.3 million (up 740.3%)
- Germany: -$163.8 million (up 15.2%)
- Turkey: -$143.9 million (up 207%)
- India: -$119.1 million (reversing a $5.5 billion surplus)
- Armenia: -$95.4 million (up 847.7%)
- Mexico: -$84.5 million (up 22.5%)
- Malaysia: -$67.1 million (up 161.8%)
China, Hong Kong and United States incurred the highest deficits in the international trade of unmounted diamonds. In turn, these negative cashflows highlight both countries’ strong competitive disadvantages for this specific product category. Also revealed are opportunities for diamond-supplying countries that help satisfy the powerful demand from consumers living in these powerful economies.
Companies
Diamond Exporting Companies
Below are companies that dominate the global diamond trade based on Bain & Company’s 2015 Diamond Industry Report. Shown within parenthesis is the country where the company is headquartered.
- De Beers (Luxembourg)
- ALROSA (Russia)
- Rio Tinto Group (United Kingdom)
- Dominion Diamond Corporation (Canada)
- Petra (Jersey)
Israel Diamond Exchange is the world’s biggest diamond trading business.
According to global trade intelligence firm Zepol, the following companies are multinational diamond traders located in the country shown within parentheses.
- Hari Krishna Exports Pvt. Ltd. (India)
- Debswana Diamond Company Ltd. (Botswana)
- Namibia Diamond Trading Company (Namibia)
Searchable List of Diamond Exporting Countries in 2019
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of any of the columns below. The right-most column records the change in value for exported diamonds from 2018 to 2019. An entry of 0% in that column means that no 2018 data is available.
| Rank | Exporter | Exported Diamonds (US$) | 2018-9 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | India | $21,909,135,000 | -14.6% |
| 2. | United States | $17,735,483,000 | -11.3% |
| 3. | Hong Kong | $13,965,775,000 | -13.7% |
| 4. | Belgium | $11,791,821,000 | -21.5% |
| 5. | Israel | $11,301,175,000 | -21.8% |
| 6. | United Arab Emirates | $8,162,619,000 | -39.6% |
| 7. | Russia | $3,768,052,000 | -24.9% |
| 8. | Botswana | $3,014,743,000 | -49% |
| 9. | Switzerland | $2,030,034,000 | +1.5% |
| 10. | United Kingdom | $1,928,872,000 | -6.6% |
| 11. | China | $1,685,180,000 | +12.4% |
| 12. | Canada | $1,641,715,000 | -31.4% |
| 13. | South Africa | $1,606,244,000 | -25.7% |
| 14. | Thailand | $1,522,270,000 | -9.1% |
| 15. | Namibia | $1,133,442,000 | -32.1% |
| 16. | Singapore | $1,126,639,000 | -25.7% |
| 17. | Angola | $487,028,000 | -57.7% |
| 18. | Lesotho | $442,945,000 | -25% |
| 19. | Australia | $428,778,000 | +2.5% |
| 20. | France | $290,379,000 | -38.8% |
| 21. | Italy | $158,353,000 | -3.8% |
| 22. | Sri Lanka | $126,245,000 | -3.1% |
| 23. | Vietnam | $121,321,000 | -66.9% |
| 24. | Zimbabwe | $116,520,000 | +26.8% |
| 25. | Mauritius | $91,479,000 | +15.7% |
| 26. | Germany | $83,179,000 | -22.3% |
| 27. | Japan | $79,604,000 | +20.7% |
| 28. | Tanzania | $79,399,000 | -2% |
| 29. | Sierra Leone | $73,026,000 | 0% |
| 30. | Taiwan | $60,183,000 | +267% |
| 31. | Turkey | $57,044,000 | +71.8% |
| 32. | Armenia | $54,138,000 | -29.9% |
| 33. | Democratic Rep. Congo | $51,995,000 | -86.4% |
| 34. | Brazil | $34,749,000 | -32.1% |
| 35. | Cambodia | $29,829,000 | -44.7% |
| 36. | Malaysia | $26,781,000 | +35.9% |
| 37. | British Virgin Is | $26,694,000 | -35.5% |
| 38. | Panama | $23,943,000 | -13.4% |
| 39. | Laos | $20,615,000 | +1,382% |
| 40. | Lebanon | $13,880,000 | -95.2% |
| 41. | Spain | $13,875,000 | -39.6% |
| 42. | Liberia | $12,541,000 | -17.1% |
| 43. | Mexico | $12,256,000 | -66.4% |
| 44. | Qatar | $12,057,000 | 0% |
| 45. | Netherlands | $11,720,000 | +3.8% |
| 46. | Guinea | $10,479,000 | -48.5% |
| 47. | Guyana | $10,350,000 | -15.5% |
| 48. | Belarus | $8,008,000 | 0% |
| 49. | Ukraine | $7,651,000 | +97.8% |
| 50. | Bulgaria | $6,382,000 | 0% |
| 51. | South Korea | $4,420,000 | +112.7% |
| 52. | Colombia | $3,487,000 | 0% |
| 53. | Austria | $3,280,000 | -29% |
| 54. | Denmark | $3,079,000 | -2.4% |
| 55. | Central African Rep | $1,973,000 | -73.2% |
| 56. | Ireland | $1,763,000 | -0.8% |
| 57. | Congo | $1,551,000 | -92.8% |
| 58. | Uganda | $1,451,000 | 0% |
| 59. | Sweden | $1,351,000 | +204.3% |
| 60. | Barbados | $1,147,000 | +136% |
| 61. | Bahrain | $1,118,000 | 0% |
| 62. | Hungary | $1,104,000 | +97.5% |
| 63. | Indonesia | $1,104,000 | +5,711% |
| 64. | Ghana | $1,085,000 | -48.7% |
| 65. | Poland | $995,000 | +171.9% |
| 66. | Dominican Republic | $785,000 | +238.4% |
| 67. | New Zealand | $776,000 | +364.7% |
| 68. | Greece | $730,000 | -74% |
| 69. | Czech Republic | $659,000 | -71% |
| 70. | Ivory Coast | $607,000 | -57.4% |
| 71. | Belize | $329,000 | +250% |
| 72. | Portugal | $143,000 | 0% |
| 73. | Cyprus | $131,000 | -80.4% |
| 74. | Croatia | $129,000 | -85.7% |
| 75. | Kuwait | $112,000 | -71.1% |
| 76. | Estonia | $90,000 | -48.9% |
| 77. | Jordan | $89,000 | +178.1% |
| 78. | Luxembourg | $85,000 | -74.1% |
| 79. | Antigua/Barbuda | $74,000 | +335.3% |
| 80. | Malta | $68,000 | -83.5% |
| 81. | Cameroon | $67,000 | -77.1% |
| 82. | Finland | $65,000 | +1.6% |
| 83. | Bhutan | $55,000 | 0% |
| 84. | Afghanistan | $53,000 | 0% |
| 85. | Bangladesh | $45,000 | -91.1% |
| 86. | Bermuda | $44,000 | 0% |
| 87. | Serbia | $42,000 | -87.6% |
| 88. | Nicaragua | $38,000 | 0% |
| 89. | Slovakia | $36,000 | -26.5% |
| 90. | Jamaica | $36,000 | -97.2% |
| 91. | Zambia | $32,000 | -52.2% |
| 92. | Grenada | $29,000 | 0% |
| 93. | Lithuania | $28,000 | -49.1% |
| 94. | Aruba | $27,000 | -59.1% |
| 95. | Norway | $21,000 | -98.3% |
| 96. | St Kitts/Nevis | $19,000 | 0% |
| 97. | Bolivia | $18,000 | -65.4% |
| 98. | Pakistan | $14,000 | -90.7% |
| 99. | Chile | $11,000 | 0% |
| 100. | Nepal | $9,000 | 0% |
| 101. | Albania | $5,000 | 0% |
| 102. | US Minor Outlying Is | $4,000 | -71.4% |
| 103. | Somalia | $3,000 | 0% |
| 104. | Gibraltar | $3,000 | -94.1% |
| 105. | Costa Rica | $1,000 | 0% |
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 2015 (p10) . Accessed on May 5, 2020
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on May 5, 2020
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on May 5, 2020
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on May 5, 2020
Wikipedia, Diamond Mining Companies. Accessed on May 5, 2020
Zepol’s company summary highlights by HTS code. Accessed on May 5, 2020
