(Rapaport…July 10, 2006) Diamond exports from Sierra Leone for the first half of fiscal 2006 dropped some 20 percent according to officials. The government says that higher mining costs contributed to the decline.
Diamond exports from January to June 2006 fell to $63 million, down from $75 million in 2005.
While the government has been working to curb smuggling, one diamond exporter from Lebanon told Reuters that it was his belief that smuggling has resumed again due to the 3 percent export tax on diamonds.