Last week, the Kimberley Process (KP) reported that global rough diamond production fell by value for the second consecutive year. This came as a result of declined output in the two largest producer countries, Russia and Botswana.
The report showed that the total value of rough diamonds extracted in 2016 dropped 11 per cent from USD $13.88 billion to USD $12.4 billion. Additionally, although production volume jumped 5 per cent to 134.1 million carats, average prices nosedived 15 per cent to $92 per carat.
This follows a 4.2 per cent drop in global production value from 2015.
Last year, Russia remained the world’s largest producer of rough, despite output dropping 16 per cent to USD $3.58 billion. Botswana, the second largest producer of rough, saw production slip 4.7 per cent to USD $2.85 billion.
In seven of the top 10 diamond-mining nations, production value declined for the year. Canada’s output fell 17% to $1.4 billion, and South Africa’s dropped 10% to $1.25 billion. Value decreased in Angola, Namibia and Australia as well, but rose in Lesotho, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone.
