Botswana Exporting Fewer Rough & Polished Diamonds

Exports of rough diamonds from Botswana, the largest diamond producing country by value, keep decreasing. Exports of the country's mined rough diamonds totaled an estimated $216.3 million in February, a 16.5% year-over-year decline. Compared to January, exports in February declined 32.4%. In January Botswana exported $320.1 million worth of locally mined rough diamonds, based on figures published by the Bank of Botswana.

Botswana is not only a large diamond producer, it also hosts the De Beers global diamond sorting center. This means that production from De Beers' operations in South Africa, Namibia and Canada are imported into Botswana before being re-exported as sorted goods. Botswana's total rough diamond exports in January, including these additional goods (February figures were not released yet), was $542.1 million.

Polished diamond exports from Botswana slumped to just $19.5 million in January, according to the Bank of Botswana. This is a 65.3% drop compared to December 2012.

In 2012 Botswana exported $706.6 million worth of polished diamonds according to the Bank of Botswana, averaging about $59 million worth of polished diamonds monthly. The country's Central Statistics Office reported that polished diamond exports totaled $692.6 million in 2012, an average of $57.7 million per month.

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