Angola’s diamond production drops 20%, says synthetic stones a threat

Angola’s ministry of mineral resources said the country produced some 20% fewer diamonds than last year. (Danny Froese/Getty Images)

UAE and Belgium buyers took up the bulk of 3.18 million carats, at an average price of US$ 191 million per carat.Prices were between 30%-55% lower than planned in the first half of the year.The second Angola International Diamond Conference will be held in October.

Angola saw a big drop in both diamonds mined and the price of the stones it sold in the first half of the year, leaving officials worried.

It partially blames synthetic diamonds for pushing down prices.

The country’s ministry of mineral resources said Angola had produced some 20% fewer diamonds than last year, with 5.66 million carats mined against a 6.98 million carats mid-year target.

It sold 3.18 million carats, for a total equivalent of around R11.5 billion.

More than 86% of sales went to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and most of the rest to Belgium.

Angolan national diamond company, Endiama, is worried that the trend could continue, with prices between 30% and 50% lower than it had anticipated.

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A growing acceptance of synthetic diamonds was among the major factors that hit Angola’s exports, said Jânio Correia Victor, the Secretary of State for Mineral Resources.

“In recent years, the international market has been volatile, characterised by low prices for natural rough diamonds, resulting from the global economic slowdown and the decrease in demand, excess stocks and the growing popularity of synthetic diamonds,” he said.

Alongside oil, diamonds are a critical source of revenue for Angola. So far this year, about R2.74 billion made from diamonds was shared between education and technical-professional training, which got 75% of the revenue, while social-community infrastructure got 6.5%, and sport 4.2%, said Endiama.

The rest went to the health sector and community development.

The News24 Africa Desk is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation. The stories produced through the Africa Desk and the opinions and statements that may be contained herein do not reflect those of the Hanns Seidel Foundation.

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