On the way back from Nazareth to our hotel in Tiberia on 28 May 2014, our tour guide made a detour to visit a diamond outlet. Unfortunately, no major diamond sale was concluded with any of our tour members. But, we did learn two Hebrew words.
All over the world, diamond deals are concluded with a hand shake and the utterance of two Hebrew words "Mazal U'Bracha" which mean "Good luck and blessings".
Interestingly, even though Israel does not produce any diamond, yet, it is one of the three majors centres for polished diamonds, alongside with Belgium and India.
Net exports of polished diamonds from Israel for 2011, 2012 and 2013 are US$7.2 billion, $5.6 billion and $6.2 billion respectively.
Net exports of rough diamonds for 2011, 2012 and 2013 are US$3.5 billion, $2.8 billion and $2.9 billion respectively.
US is the biggest importer of Israelis polished diamond accounting for 37.3%. Hong Kong is second accounting for 27%. For such a small place compared to the US, I presume that the super rich from mainland China is behind this unusual high percentage.
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