Angolan diamond sales in July reached 295,532.16 carats, bringing the total volume traded to 4,591,284 carats, according to data from the General Tax Administration (AGT) published on the Ministry of Finance’s website.
The proceeds from sales, according to the Monthly Diamond Revenue Map, amounted to US$73,519,912, at a price, last month, of US$261.81 per carat, with a cumulative figure of US$847,895,450 in the calculation of first seven months of the year, indicate the data in the report.
Last month, the document declares, sales represented a drop of 32 percent compared to June, when the volume traded was 390,806.52 carats, while the value of transactions fell to 115,943,271 dollars in that last month . .
Diamond tax revenue was 4,549 million kwanzas in July, a decrease of 33 percent compared to June, raising the accumulated figure for the year to 35,609 million kwanzas, according to AGT data.
The volume of diamonds sold in July was the third lowest of the year, just above the volume traded in February and May, of 101,617.81 and 370,013.39 carats.
price drop
At the beginning of August, the chairman of the Management Board of Sociedade Mineira de Catoca, which operates the fourth largest kimberlite in the world in the open pit and represents something like two-thirds of Angola’s diamond production, said that it was only at that time that the company was resuming operations. Sales were interrupted due to falling prices in the international market.
According to Benedito Manuel, the company’s gemstones had lost 22 percent of the price per carat, leading to the decision to suspend sales, which only occurred on “stock” production.
In March, Empresa Nacional de Diamantes de Angola (Endiama), a state-owned company with stakes in the vast majority of diamond concessions in the country, announced a production of 12 million carats this year.
The information provided by the chairman of the Board of Directors of the company, Ganga Júnior, during a meeting with the Institute of Management of Assets and Participations of the State (IGAPE), revealed that, in 2022, Endiama had a production of around nine million carats, which is why, in 2023, a target of producing around 12 million carats has been projected.
