Angola earned revenue of US$ 1,299 million from diamonds during 2019, an increase of 6.2% over the revenue of the previous year, government officials announced earlier this week, according to media reports. A total of 9.44 million carats were sold during the year.
Secretary of State for Geology and Mines, Jânio Correia Victor was reported to have said that though production for the year increased 12.3%, revenue was impacted by weaker prices of rough in the international market, with a decline of approximately 10%.
National Director of Markets and Marketing Promotion at the Ministry of Mineral and Petroleum Resources, Gaspar Sermão also released figures for Q4 2019, the reports stated. He said production reached 3 million carats, up 7.5%, and sales rose to 3.4 mn carats, but revenue fell by 10.2% under the impact of lower prices to US$ 409.77 million. The average price realised during the quarter stood at US$ 136 per carat.
For 2020, the government has set a production target of 14 million carats, the reports quoted the officials as saying.
Source: GJEPC 21-2-2020