Africa: Nam 9th Biggest Diamond Producer Globally

NAMIBIA remained under the top 10 diamonds producers in the world last year, the latest statistics released by the Kimberley Process have shown. With a total production of nearly 1,3 million carats, Namibia remained the ninth biggest diamond producer in the world.

"Namibia produced just over 1% of the world's diamonds by weight, but 6% by value. The country's diamonds continued to be of the highest average value of the top producing countries," economist Robin Sherbourne said analysing the latest figures for IJG Securities.

Total diamond production fell from 133 million carats in 2010 to 124 million carats last year. The total value of production rose from US$12 billion to US$14,4 billion.

The Russian Federation was again the world's largest producer of rough diamonds by carats, a position it has held since 2004. The top nine producers accounted for over 98% of global production by carats and almost 96% by value, Sherbourne said.

Zimbabwe produced over eight million carats in 2011 compared to under one million in 2009, he said.