RAPAPORT… Global diamond production by value remained relatively flat, or down 0.6 percent, at $12.1 billion in 2007, despite a drop in carat volumes mined during the year, the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme reported on its statistics website.
Total production by volume fell 4 percent to 168,198,857.66 carats, as value per carat rose 5 percent to $71.98 a carat for the year.
The Kimberley Process (KP) annually publishes production, import and export figures supplied by its members as a prerequisite to joining the scheme. KP in 2007 had 48 members, representing 74 countries, with the European Community and its member states counting as an individual participant.
Botswana remained the largest producer of rough by value despite an 8 percent decline in its production to $2.96 billion. The Russian Federation was second as its production grew 2 percent to $2.63 billion, followed by Canada, where production increased 18 percent to $1.66 billion. South Africa’s rough production rose 4 percent to $1.4 billion, and Angola completed the top five with a 12 percent rise to $1.27 billion.
Lesotho measured as having the most valuable diamonds at $722.77 per carat, followed by Namibia at $315.71 a carat, Indonesia at $263.38, Sierra Leone at $234.53, and Angola diamonds valued at $131.11 per carat.
The data showed that the rough global trade increase 12 percent to $78.78 billion in 2007. The total imports for all participating countries rose 14 percent to $40.07 billion, and accounted for 478.74 million carats; additionally exports rose 9 percent to $38.7 billion, which accounted for 471.42 million carats.
Ian Smillie, research assistant at Partnership Africa Canada and member of the KP statistics working group, said trade far outweighed production due to the re-export of diamonds between countries, with each accounting for them.
“Therefore from a KP point of view, the total import – export figures don’t mean too much. Production is more significant,” Smillie said.
The largest trader in rough diamonds for the year was the European Community (EC,) which encompasses 25 countries including Belgium. EC rough imports grew 5 percent to $14.43 billion, while exports rose 11 percent to $15.36 billion. Given this data, figures provided by the Antwerp World Diamond Council found Belgium accounted for most trading activity with imports rising 10 percent to $10.18 billion, and exports increasing 15 percent to $11.35 billion.
Smillie noted that there were some who had argued for a long time each EC member present its own statistics, but that the EC had from the start insisted on aggregated figures for the region.
Among other trading countries monitored by Rapaport during the year – India, Israel, and the United States – some significant discrepancies emerged between data published by the KP and those provided by the respective government agencies.
Smillie noted that discrepancies may occur due to different definitions used by customs, or different reporting periods between countries. “We feel that our data is working on more rigorous definitions,” he said.
KP put India’s rough imports 13 percent higher to $9.66 billion and exports some 10 percent higher to $601.1 million, but figures provided by India’s Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council valued the country’s rough imports at $9.4 billion, up 12 percent, and exports at $502.53 million, up 6 percent.
KP reported that Israel’s rough imports rose 7 percent to $5.8 billion, and exports grew 20 percent to $4.14 billion, while the country’s diamond controller published that imports rose 8 percent to $5.08 billion, and exports increased 25 percent to $3.38 billion.
Imports to the United States rose 14 percent to $899.5 million, according to KP, and exports rose 9 percent to $568.9 million in 2007. By Rapaport accounts rough imports rose 6 percent to $849 million, while exports increased 11 percent to $490 million.
Among the other significant trading centers, KP records showed South Africa’s rough imports jumped 214 percent to $2.1 billion, while exports fell 3.2 percent to $1.87 billion. The People’s Republic of China imports rose 34 percent to $2.23 billion, as exports grew 45 percent to $896.98 million. The United Arab Emirates saw imports rise 25 percent to $1.95 billion and exports grow 19 percent to $2.8 billion. Botswana’s rough imports doubled to $199.45 million, though exports fell 4 percent to $3.17 billion.
The KP figures revealed some gaps in certain countries. Venezuela for example produced $1.2 million worth of rough in 2007 but had no exports indicating that some loop holes existed there. Venezuela earlier this year withdrew from the KP to get its house in order.
Another example which might set off some questioning occurred in Sierra Leone where production and exports were exactly the same at 603,623.04 carats, indicating the country may not have a full understanding of its exports, or in the Central African Republic which exported exactly 50,000 carats fewer than it produced in the period.
Smillie said such occurrences are queried with the respective governments, as well as when there is more than a 15 percent anomaly in their records.
“We have submitted queries with some governments about the statistics,” he said. “Not all our questions have been answered yet.”