Overall, the value of diamonds bought by all importing countries dropped by an average -10.4% since 2015 when diamond purchases cost $117.2 billion. Year over year, imported diamonds decreased in value by -19.7% from 2018 to 2019.
From a continental perspective, buyers in Asian countries spent the most on imported diamonds during 2019 with purchases costing $64.2 billion or 61.2% of the global total. In second place were North American importers at 19.6% while 16.2% of worldwide diamond imports were delivered to European countries.
Smaller percentages went to Africa (2.4%), Oceania (0.4%), and Latin America (0.1%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean.
For research purposes, the 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix is 7102 for non-mounted and unset diamonds.
Diamond Imports by Country
Top 15
Below are the 15 countries that imported the highest dollar value worth of diamonds during 2019.
- India: US$22 billion (21% of total imported diamonds)
- United States: $20.2 billion (19.2%)
- Hong Kong: $17.7 billion (16.9%)
- Belgium: $10.6 billion (10.1%)
- China: $7.8 billion (7.5%)
- United Arab Emirates: $6.8 billion (6.4%)
- Israel: $4.7 billion (4.5%)
- Switzerland: $2.4 billion (2.3%)
- Thailand: $2 billion (1.9%)
- United Kingdom: $1.9 billion (1.8%)
- Botswana: $1.6 billion (1.6%)
- Singapore: $1.2 billion (1.1%)
- France: $900 million (0.9%)
- Japan: $742 million (0.7%)
- Italy: $687.1 million (0.7%)
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing markets for diamonds since 2015 were: Thailand (up 138%), India (up 34.2%), France (up 7.1%) and China (up 5.2%).
Those countries that posted declines in their imported diamonds purchases were led by: United Arab Emirates (down -40.7%), Botswana (down -34.6%), Belgium (down -32.2%) and Israel (down -32%).
The listed 15 countries purchased 96.3% of all diamonds imported in 2019.
India
Diamond Imports into India
Below are the top 15 suppliers from which India imported the highest dollar value worth of diamonds during 2019. Within parenthesis is the percentage change in value for each supplying country since 2015.
- Belgium: US$5.6 billion (down -14.3% from 2015)
- United Arab Emirates: $5.2 billion (up 41.5%)
- United States: $4.6 billion (up 803.7%)
- Hong Kong: $2.9 billion (up 54.2%)
- Botswana: $760.1 million (up 49.6%)
- Israel: $707.9 million (down -25.5%)
- Russia: $505.8 million (down -43.8%)
- South Africa: $460.7 million (up 215.8%)
- Canada: $357.8 million (up 0.1%)
- United Kingdom: $278.8 million (up 2,520%)
- Thailand: $227.8 million (up 1,481%)
- Singapore: $202.3 million (up 136%)
- Japan: $154.3 million (up 569.9%)
- Switzerland: $63.8 million (down -38.7%)
- China: $17.5 million (up 179.4%)
The listed 15 countries shipped 99.7% of diamonds imported by India in 2019.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing suppliers of diamonds to India since 2015 were: United Kingdom (up 2,520%), Thailand (up 1,481%), United States (up 803.7%) and Japan (up 569.9%).
Four major providers experienced declines in the value of their diamonds supplied to Indian importers: Russia (down -43.8%), Switzerland (down -38.7%), Israel (down -25.5%) and Belgium (down -14.3%).
Overall, the value of India’s imported diamonds rose by an average 34.2% from all supplying countries since 2015 when diamonds purchased cost $16.4 billion.
USA
Diamond Imports into the United States
Below are the top 15 suppliers from which the United States imported the highest dollar value worth of diamonds during 2019. Within parenthesis is the percentage change in value for each supplying country since 2015.
- India: US$8.1 billion (up 8.1% from 2015)
- Israel: $6.8 billion (down -20.1%)
- Belgium: $1.9 billion (down -49%)
- South Africa: $939.4 million (up 44.4%)
- Hong Kong: $389.6 million (down -66.4%)
- Russia: $362.2 million (up 230.3%)
- Botswana: $277.7 million (up 32.5%)
- Switzerland: $221.5 million (down -59.7%)
- China: $158 million (down -24.2%)
- United Arab Emirates: $118.6 million (up 16.3%)
- United Kingdom: $108.6 million (down -56%)
- Namibia: $96.8 million (up 133.9%)
- Mauritius: $94.2 million (down -8.8%)
- Canada: $91.9 million (down -39.4%)
- Australia: $87.9 million (up 41.7%)
The listed 15 countries shipped 98.2% of diamonds imported by the United States of America in 2019.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing suppliers of diamonds to United States since 2015 were: Russia (up 230.3%), Namibia (up 133.9%), South Africa (up 44.4%) and Australia (up 41.7%).
Countries that experienced declines in the value of their diamonds supplied to American importers included: Hong Kong (down -66.4%), Switzerland (down -59.7%), United Kingdom (down -56%) and Belgium (down -49%).
Overall, the value of US imported diamonds fell by an average -15.7% from all supplying countries since 2015 when diamonds purchased cost $23.9 billion.
Hong Kong
Diamond Imports into Hong Kong
Below are the top 15 suppliers from which Hong Kong imported the highest dollar value worth of diamonds during 2019. Within parenthesis is the percentage change in value for each supplying country since 2015.
- India: US$6.9 billion (down -6.2% from 2015)
- Belgium: $1.9 billion (down -19.3%)
- United States: $1.9 billion (up 1.4%)
- Israel: $1.5 billion (down -34.9%)
- China: $1.4 billion (up 16.1%)
- United Arab Emirates: $1.3 billion (down -25.3%)
- Switzerland: $717.4 million (up 185.9%)
- Thailand: $351.2 million (down -31.5%)
- Japan: $320.8 million (down -20%)
- Botswana: $289.8 million (up 80.5%)
- United Kingdom: $261.1 million (up 50.9%)
- Singapore: $238.7 million (up 20.6%)
- Russia: $200.2 million (up 18.7%)
- France: $127.9 million (up 10.9%)
- Italy: $66.6 million (up 144.9%)
The listed 15 countries shipped 98.5% of diamonds imported by Hong Kong in 2019.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing suppliers of diamonds to Hong Kong since 2015 were: Switzerland (up 185.9%), Italy (up 144.9%), Botswana (up 80.5%) and United Kingdom (up 50.9%).
Countries that experienced declines in the value of their diamonds supplied to importers in Hong Kong included: Israel (down -34.9%), Thailand (down -31.5%), United Arab Emirates (down -25.3%) and Japan (down -20%).
Overall, the value of Hong Kong’s imported diamonds decreased by an average -7.1% from all supplying countries since 2015 when diamonds purchased cost $19.1 billion.
Belgium
Diamond Imports into Belgium
Below are the top 15 suppliers from which Belgium imported the highest dollar value worth of diamonds during 2019. Within parenthesis is the percentage change in value for each supplying country since 2015.
- Russia: US$2.3 billion (down -6.8% from 2015)
- India: $1.5 billion (down -22.2%)
- United Arab Emirates: $1.2 billion (down -58.3%)
- Botswana: $976.9 million (down -38%)
- Canada: $780.9 million (up 4.5%)
- United Kingdom: $593.1 million (down -13.9%)
- South Africa: $592.8 million (up 27.5%)
- Hong Kong: $492.2 million (down -52.4%)
- Israel: $350.4 million (down -45.2%)
- Angola: $343.9 million (down -40.6%)
- Lesotho: $301.5 million (up 7.8%)
- Thailand: $182.2 million (down -44.1%)
- Namibia: $153.2 million (up 191.4%)
- United States: $114.9 million (down -69.9%)
- Singapore: $111 million (down -18.4%)
The listed 15 countries shipped 94.8% of diamonds imported by Belgium in 2019.
Among the above countries, four major suppliers grew their international sales of diamonds to Belgium since 2015: Namibia (up 191.4%), South Africa (up 27.5%), Lesotho (up 7.8%) and Canada (up 4.5%).
Countries that experienced declines in the value of their diamonds supplied to Belgian importers included: United States (down -69.9%), United Arab Emirates (down -58.3%), Hong Kong (down -52.4%) and Israel (down -45.2%).
Overall, the value of Belgium’s imported diamonds retreated by an average -32.2% from all supplying countries since 2015 when diamonds purchased cost $15.6 billion.
Searchable List of Diamonds Importing Countries in 2019
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of any of the columns below. An entry of 0% in the right-most column means that 2018 data was unavailable.
| Rank | Importer | Imported Diamonds (US$) | 2018-19 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | India | $22,028,199,000 | -17.4% |
| 2. | United States | $20,196,920,000 | -17.3% |
| 3. | Hong Kong | $17,721,060,000 | -15.1% |
| 4. | Belgium | $10,574,910,000 | -23.7% |
| 5. | China | $7,845,777,000 | -11.4% |
| 6. | United Arab Emirates | $6,755,861,000 | -43.2% |
| 7. | Israel | $4,689,798,000 | -28.2% |
| 8. | Switzerland | $2,376,321,000 | -5.6% |
| 9. | Thailand | $2,005,741,000 | -8% |
| 10. | United Kingdom | $1,853,358,000 | -33% |
| 11. | Botswana | $1,630,984,000 | -8.1% |
| 12. | Singapore | $1,182,444,000 | -22.7% |
| 13. | France | $899,961,000 | -13.1% |
| 14. | Japan | $742,017,000 | -16.2% |
| 15. | Italy | $687,058,000 | +6.1% |
| 16. | South Africa | $562,588,000 | -13.7% |
| 17. | Australia | $421,438,000 | -2.2% |
| 18. | Canada | $341,751,000 | -9.6% |
| 19. | Vietnam | $327,651,000 | +8.4% |
| 20. | Namibia | $261,970,000 | -19.5% |
| 21. | Germany | $246,954,000 | -18.5% |
| 22. | Turkey | $200,938,000 | +14.7% |
| 23. | Russia | $171,540,000 | +26.8% |
| 24. | Armenia | $149,505,000 | -13.2% |
| 25. | Sri Lanka | $110,315,000 | -1.3% |
| 26. | Mexico | $96,788,000 | -8.5% |
| 27. | Malaysia | $93,907,000 | +53.3% |
| 28. | Mauritius | $85,439,000 | -6% |
| 29. | Taiwan | $77,052,000 | -7.6% |
| 30. | Cambodia | $72,771,000 | +13.9% |
| 31. | South Korea | $67,048,000 | +1.4% |
| 32. | Curaçao | $64,718,000 | +18.9% |
| 33. | Lebanon | $57,299,000 | -85.7% |
| 34. | Spain | $43,077,000 | -6% |
| 35. | Indonesia | $39,606,000 | +21.4% |
| 36. | Netherlands | $35,442,000 | +4.6% |
| 37. | New Zealand | $26,945,000 | -6.9% |
| 38. | Austria | $24,128,000 | -38% |
| 39. | Ireland | $23,176,000 | -8% |
| 40. | Laos | $17,947,000 | -9.3% |
| 41. | Panama | $16,439,000 | -58.3% |
| 42. | British Virgin Islands | $14,380,000 | +19.6% |
| 43. | Belarus | $12,196,000 | 0% |
| 44. | Nepal | $11,923,000 | -2.6% |
| 45. | Denmark | $11,786,000 | -14.3% |
| 46. | Czech Republic | $11,610,000 | -6.1% |
| 47. | Brazil | $11,576,000 | -29.2% |
| 48. | Poland | $10,379,000 | -21.9% |
| 49. | Saudi Arabia | $9,505,000 | +37.2% |
| 50. | Sweden | $8,525,000 | -11.7% |
| 51. | Cayman Islands | $7,705,000 | +385.5% |
| 52. | Norway | $7,333,000 | +5.9% |
| 53. | St Vincent/Grenadines | $7,136,000 | 0% |
| 54. | Macao | $6,824,000 | 0% |
| 55. | Bulgaria | $6,629,000 | +1,789% |
| 56. | Qatar | $6,586,000 | +726.3% |
| 57. | Greece | $5,499,000 | -34% |
| 58. | Dominican Republic | $4,687,000 | -54.9% |
| 59. | Morocco | $4,659,000 | -2% |
| 60. | Ukraine | $3,969,000 | +21.5% |
| 61. | Cyprus | $3,597,000 | -1.5% |
| 62. | Bahrain | $3,340,000 | +54.3% |
| 63. | Finland | $3,140,000 | -25% |
| 64. | Jordan | $2,206,000 | +36.8% |
| 65. | Slovenia | $1,943,000 | +3.5% |
| 66. | Honduras | $1,886,000 | +188,500% |
| 67. | Myanmar (Burma) | $1,844,000 | +3,193% |
| 68. | Luxembourg | $1,622,000 | -38.9% |
| 69. | Peru | $1,523,000 | -8.5% |
| 70. | Kuwait | $1,509,000 | +145.8% |
| 71. | Bahamas | $1,461,000 | -28.8% |
| 72. | Portugal | $1,322,000 | -15.4% |
| 73. | Andorra | $1,004,000 | -30.9% |
| 74. | Croatia | $990,000 | +32.2% |
| 75. | Slovakia | $909,000 | +3.8% |
| 76. | Tunisia | $894,000 | +81.3% |
| 77. | Aruba | $851,000 | +11.5% |
| 78. | Malta | $796,000 | +6.4% |
| 79. | Bermuda | $750,000 | +53.1% |
| 80. | Colombia | $743,000 | +25.7% |
| 81. | Saint Kitts/Nevis | $703,000 | -10.9% |
| 82. | Turks/Caicos Is | $687,000 | +18.7% |
| 83. | Gibraltar | $656,000 | +15.3% |
| 84. | Oman | $616,000 | +19.1% |
| 85. | Uganda | $557,000 | 0% |
| 86. | Philippines | $541,000 | -42.4% |
| 87. | Belize | $494,000 | +1,105% |
| 88. | Jamaica | $491,000 | -73.8% |
| 89. | New Caledonia | $490,000 | +37.3% |
| 90. | Hungary | $465,000 | -36.3% |
| 91. | Romania | $420,000 | -41.3% |
| 92. | Serbia | $385,000 | -57.2% |
| 93. | Lithuania | $378,000 | +38.5% |
| 94. | Iceland | $271,000 | -16.9% |
| 95. | Sierra Leone | $253,000 | 0% |
| 96. | Kazakhstan | $227,000 | +81.6% |
| 97. | El Salvador | $199,000 | -5.7% |
| 98. | Chile | $194,000 | -46.7% |
| 99. | Nigeria | $175,000 | 0% |
| 100. | Barbados | $148,000 | -72.5% |
| 101. | Estonia | $96,000 | -61.9% |
| 102. | French Polynesia | $84,000 | +47.4% |
| 103. | Pakistan | $80,000 | 0% |
| 104. | Afghanistan | $70,000 | 0% |
| 105. | Guatemala | $64,000 | -24.7% |
| 106. | Latvia | $55,000 | -76.5% |
| 107. | Tanzania | $47,000 | +62.1% |
| 108. | Guinea | $43,000 | -74.1% |
| 109. | Uruguay | $40,000 | -14.9% |
| 110. | Saint Lucia | $31,000 | -77.5% |
| 111. | Moldova | $29,000 | +262.5% |
| 112. | Ecuador | $29,000 | +70.6% |
| 113. | Zambia | $29,000 | -79.6% |
| 114. | Bangladesh | $27,000 | -76.1% |
| 115. | Lesotho | $27,000 | 0% |
| 116. | Costa Rica | $25,000 | -73.4% |
| 117. | US Minor Outlying Is | $24,000 | -84.1% |
| 118. | Georgia | $23,000 | +109.1% |
| 119. | Ivory Coast | $23,000 | +15% |
| 120. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $22,000 | 0% |
| 121. | Albania | $21,000 | 0% |
| 122. | Mauritania | $21,000 | 0% |
| 123. | Mongolia | $17,000 | 0% |
| 124. | Algeria | $15,000 | +275% |
| 125. | Egypt | $15,000 | -98.7% |
| 126. | Greenland | $8,000 | 0% |
| 127. | Ghana | $7,000 | 0% |
| 128. | Congo | $7,000 | -94% |
| 129. | Antigua/Barbuda | $7,000 | -97.7% |
| 130. | Grenada | $5,000 | 0% |
| 131. | Vanuatu | $4,000 | -55.6% |
| 132. | Nicaragua | $1,000 | 0% |
See also Diamonds Exports by Country, America’s Top Trading Partners and Exported Paintings and Drawings by Country
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Imports – Commodities. Accessed on May 14, 2020
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on May 14, 2020
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on May 14, 2020
