Belgium’s net polished diamond exports in November 2008, has decreased by a massive 62 percent to $67.8 million, over the same last year. Its exports of polished diamonds for the month of November 2008 slipped down by 9.8 percent to US$948.2 million. Contrary to this, polished imports increased, but marginally, by 0.8 percent valuing at US$880.4 million. %% The import of rough diamonds into Belgium decreased by a considerable 34.3 percent to US$513.5 million, while exports of roughs also dipped by around the same – 39 percent to $516.7 million. %% Despite these lowered figures, accountable due to the economic slump, the period between January to November 2008, when the downslide had still not hit markets, trade was good. Exports of polished diamonds increased by 18.2 percent to $11.64 billion, while imports increased by 23.5 percent to US$11.44 billion. Also, rough imports scaled up by 9.2 percent to US$10.243 billion and exports by 1.4 percent to US$10.426 billion.