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摘要

It's been a rough year for the $65 billion global diamond industry. Its two biggest markets, the U.S. and Japan,which together consume nearly two thirds of the world'sdiamonds, cut their imports of polished stones by 72 and 26percent, respectively, in the first half of 2009. But some ofthe shortfall is being replaced by an emerging buyer: China,where polished-diamond imports rose nearly 13 percentthrough June. The country is poised to overtake Japan as the No. 2 diamondmarket by sales this month-evidence that Chinese consumers are spendingmore. "For us, exports for Hong Kong and China are now about equal to thoseto the U.S.," says Freddy Hanard, CEO of the Antwerp World Diamond Centre.China's diamond lust is being driven in large part by its burgeoning, young middle class, with whom the old tag line "Diamonds are a girl's best friend" resonates particularly well, says Shaun Rein, managing director of the China Market Research Group in Shanghai. As a result, bridal jewelry is booming. Rein expects annual diamond sales to rise at least 20 percent for the next three years.