Japans polished imports rose 26.8% in August to $101 million, compared to 2004.

In Yen terms imports increased 28.9% to 11.2 yen billion, according to figures compiled by the Jewelry Trade Center (JTC) Incorporated.

In terms of volume, August saw a slight decrease of 0.7% to 211,000 carats.

For the year to date, imports were up 5.6% to $775 million.

However, by volume year to date imports were down 7.2% to 1.7 million carats.