The Israel Diamond Exchange has reported a drop in its exports and membership in 2024, according to Israel media outlet Ynet news.

The exchange president, Nissim Zuaretz, said that for the first time in its history, the annual number of retirees has exceeded the exchange’s new members. “In the best years of the industry, we received 200 new members a year, in the past year only 30,” Zuaretz said.

The Israel Diamond Exchange, in the city of Ramat Gan, is the world’s largest, encompassing about 3,100 members. The country is the fifth largest global exporter of cut and uncut diamonds.

In 2024, Israel’s net exports of rough diamonds saw a six percent decrease compared to the same period in 2023, while the export of polished diamonds in the first seven months of 2024 dropped by 33 percent compared to the corresponding period in 2023.

In July 2024 alone, exports decreased by almost half compared to the previous year.

In February, the former Diamond Exchange president, Boaz Moldawsky, cited Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza and a global downturn that predated 7 October as factors driving the slump.

He said that in the weeks following October 7, the diamond market in Israel was “completely paralyzed,” but that it then returned to normal operations.

However, amid Israel’s ongoing Gaza war, buyers stopped visiting Israel, with the annual International Diamond Week in Israel, scheduled for early April, cancelled. 

But according to the Rapaport Group, the slump is mainly driven by a slowdown in sales to the US and China, and collapsing diamond prices in 2023, which tumbled about 20 percent due to slowing consumer demand.

Moldawsky estimated that 80 percent of the trade’s difficulties were due to the global slump, and 20 percent to the war on Gaza.