Gemstone trade globe
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Flows on the globe for the selected product, given the layers, by value
Key points
World diamond trade in 2024 amounted to about $73 bn, and trade in colored gemstones to about $9 bn. A diamond usually crosses borders several times: it is mined in Africa, Russia and Canada, sorted and sold in Antwerp, Dubai and Gaborone, cut in India, and the polished diamonds are bought in the United States and Asia. The largest exporter is India (22% of world exports); the largest buyers are India (19%), the United States (18%) and Hong Kong (17%).
The main hub is India: trade involving it accounts for 42% of world diamond turnover. It receives 71% of the UAE’s exports, 46% of Canada’s and 42% each of Angola’s and Botswana’s, and polished diamonds go from here primarily to the United States ($6 bn) and Hong Kong ($3.4 bn). Antwerp receives 35% of Canada’s exports and 26% of Botswana’s; Dubai receives 35% of Angola’s exports and 30% of South Africa’s. Despite the G7 ban on its diamonds, Russia exported $1.7 bn worth of them in 2024: 46% to Hong Kong and 38% to India. In colored stones the key hubs are New York, Hong Kong and Bangkok, which account for 36%, 31% and 22% of world turnover.
Importance of hubs
Click “Close hub” in the list below or select a hub on the globe. The model shows how much trade passes through it and which countries depend on it most: buyers are highlighted in red, suppliers in orange. The more saturated the color, the larger the share of the country’s trade that involves the hub.
Trading hubs
Trade involving each hub: its imports and exports. The “Close hub” button shows whose trade depends on it.
Click a flow, country, strait or hub on the globe
About the data
Data. Source: BACI (CEPII), a reconciled database of bilateral trade based on UN Comtrade, 2024 (accessed via OEC). Layers: “Diamonds” — HS heading 7102 (rough and polished diamonds, including industrial); “Colored stones” — 7103 (emeralds, rubies, sapphires, semi-precious stones). Jewelry is not included. Estimates cover all flows from $10 m — 98% of diamond trade and 87% of colored stone trade.
What is shown. The globe shows the 80 largest flows in each layer, drawn as straight lines: stones are carried by air, not by sea. The hubs are nine centers through which most of the trade passes: Antwerp, Dubai, Mumbai and Surat, Hong Kong, Ramat Gan, New York, Bangkok, Geneva and Gaborone. Data are by country, so a hub equals its country’s entire gemstone trade.
Importance of hubs. For each country, the model calculates the share of exports or imports accounted for by trade with the selected hub. Redistribution of shipments between hubs after a closure is not modeled. Country lists include countries with trade in the layer of at least 0.5% of the world total.
Limitations. Customs statistics record rough and polished diamonds together, and the value of the same parcel changes on resale. Re-exports through hubs are counted several times, so world turnover exceeds the value of the stones actually mined. Statistics do not show the origin of stones after cutting.
WhiteIndex. Gemstone Trade Globe (October 2026). Data: BACI (CEPII) based on UN Comtrade, 2024.
All sources
BACI (CEPII) based on UN Comtrade, 2024
This text was translated automatically from Russian. Figures, years, names and sources are as in the original.
Exports of diamonds and colored gemstones in 2024: where they are mined, cut and sold, and which hubs hold the market together