Botswana Rough Diamond Exports Down in 2012

The diamond-rich southern African nation of Botswana exported significantly more rough diamonds in December than it did in November but that was a blip in a year that saw far fewer stones exported than the previous one, Rough and Polished reports. Botswana's export of rough diamonds for the entire 2012 calendar year were $3.05 billion, which amounts to a massive drop from the previous year, in which $4.28 billion worth of rough diamonds were exported from the country.

While $198 million worth of gems were exported by Botswana in November, that figure ballooned to $266 million for the month of December. Strangely, the value of diamond exports dropped month-to-month, when figured in the local currency, the Botswana pula. According to statistics from the Bank of Botswana, the worth of rough diamonds exported from the country was 1.5 billion pula in November and 1.3 billion pula in December. The diamond industry's conflicting figures may be the result of currency exchange rate fluctuation, according to Rough and Polished.

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