After almost a decade of production stagnation around 130 Mct, Kimberley Process 2017 diamond annual production data show a marked production jump for diamonds. Production of rough diamonds rose from 134 Mct and US$12,4 bn (2016) to 151 Mct and US$15,9 bn (2017), an apparent return to pre-2008 levels (not there yet, but getting closer) – data from the Kimberley Process (KP).

South African production explains most of the jump in value recorded in KP data. It more than doubles previous year’s South African production value and it is a record value. Most probably I am missing something: can this be, or is the published data wrong? again, drop me a line to comment on this.

The sharp (12,5%) increase in rough diamond volume production is due to:

• +  3,1 Mct in Australia;
• +  2,5 Mct in Botswana;
• + 10,2 Mct in Canada;
• –   4,3 Mct in DRC;
• +  0,8 Mct in Lesotho;
• +  2,3 Mct in Russia and
• +  1,4 Mct in South Africa.

The even sharper (28%!) value increase was due to:

• +   483 M USD in Botswana;
• +   663 M USD in Canada;
• –     89 M USD in DRC;
• +   533 M USD in Russia and
• + 1 840 M USD in South Africa.