ARMINFO News Agency, Armenia Saturday In the first half of 2017, Armenia increased the volume of polished exports by 92.5% per annum, with imports growing by 52.4% Yerevan August 26 Alina Hovhannisyan. In the first half of 2017, Armenia sharply increased polished exports - by 92.5% per annum, against growth of 2.3 times for the same period in 2016, and by 70% in the same period in 2015. A positive trend was also registered for the import of products of the lapidary industry, where in quantitative terms the volumes of supplies increased by 52.4% in the first half of 2017 (against the growth of 2 times in the same period in 2016, and a decrease of 57% in the same period of 2015). According to the data of the RA Customs Service, in the first half of the year 2017, Armenia exported 133.8 thousand carats of diamonds, the customs value of which increased by 17.9% per annum to $ 53.1 million. From Armenia, raw materials are exported mainly to the United Arab Emirates (38.4%), Russia (24.3%), Belgium (19.5% %), Switzerland (7.4%), and the rest is in the USA, Canada, and Germany. Meanwhile, during the reporting period, 244.2 thousand carats of rough diamonds worth $ 75.3 million (with an annual growth of 28.2%) were imported to the republic. Primarily, rough diamonds are imported to Armenia from the United Arab Emirates (53%), Belgium (11.1%), Russia (8%), Switzerland (7.9%), Canada (6.8%), India (6.7%) and the rest from Thailand, South Africa, and Hong Kong. By way of comparison, we note that for the first half of the year in 2016 Armenia exported 69.5 thousand carats of diamonds worth $ 45 million, and imported 160.2 thousand tons of diamonds carat with a total value of $ 59 million. Armenia does not have its own diamond deposits and imports rough diamonds for further processing and export of diamonds mainly to the same countries from which raw materials are imported. Traditionally, the import of diamonds exceeds exports, which is explained in the Ministry of Economy by their re-export to third countries. Armenia's accession to the Eurasian Economic Union has banned the re-export of rough diamonds. Many international experts are inclined to believe that for almost the whole year the precious stones market will be stable. But by the end of the year the situation can change significantly. This is due to the fact that recently there is a strong shortage of stones. To this state of affairs has led to the fact that the existing resources are quite exhausted. In other words, the resources of mines where stones are mined are very much depleted. Worldwide, very few diamonds are currently mined. It is this state of affairs that will lead to the fact that the demand for these stones will increase significantly. But the very diamond will be very small in order to fill the market. According to some experts in the diamond market, the demand for diamonds will be observed for a long time. Therefore, there is a great opportunity to invest in diamonds. International experts believe that the polished market will be quite stable until 2020. The growth in the value of polished diamonds may be further influenced only by macroeconomic uncertainty, which will inevitably be combined with access to financing. But, despite this the minimum cost of precious stones is not expected.