Diamond Production Volume Up, But Value Down

After yesterday's revelations that Botswana, Russia and Canada hold the top three positions in the global diamond industry in terms of rough diamond production, more interesting data has emerged from the Kimberley Process annual report. Among them include global production totals: 127.962 million carats of rough stones were produced worldwide in 2012, and they were sold for $12.64 billion, for an average price of $98.81. Global production by volume increased by 10% year-over-year, but because the per-average price dropped by 14%, the global production by value decreased by 10% during the same period, Rough and Polished reports.

Angola was ranked by the KP as fourth in the world for diamond production, with 8.33 million carats worth $1.11 billion, and South Africa was ranked fifth with 7.077 million carats worth $1.03 billion, according to Rough and Polished. The countries were followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe and Australia. Although the average price of Lesotho's diamonds actually dropped by 61% year-over-year, they still led the world at $629.43 per carat.

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