Dubai Diamond Exchange announced Tuesday that Dubai’s total trade of diamond volumes reached 182 million carats for 2009, an increase of 22 percent over 2008.

According to figures from the Dubai World Statistics Department, a total of 80 million carats of polished diamonds were traded through the emirate in 2009 increasing by more than 150 percent from 2008 when 32 million carats were traded.

Polished diamonds imports to the emirate grew by nearly five percent during 2009, to reach $6.9 billion from $6.6 billion during the same period in 2008. Exports in the same period were up 30 percent from $5.4 billion to $7 billion.

Rough diamond trade increased marginally by a little over 3 percent and reached 97 million carats in comparison to 94 million carats in 2008. The trade saw a 13 percent decline, reaching $18 billion in 2009 compared to $20.76 billion in 2008.

Dubai’s diamond trade was mainly driven by India, Belgium and Hong Kong, which were the top trade partners for Dubai with growing trade from new markets such as Angola, Switzerland and the U.S.

JCK