The Annual Global Summary report of the trade in rough diamonds in 2015 published by the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) indicates that Russia continues to be the largest producer and India the largest importer of rough in terms of volume.

The share of the Russian Federation moved up from 30.7% last year to 32.9% this year, while in terms of value it increased from 25.75% to 30.54%, reflecting the decision of Russian miner Alrosa not to cut back on production despite the weakness in the rough market.

On the other hand, with De Beers deciding to reduce production in the face of low demand for rough in the second half of the year, the second largest producing country saw its share of global production fall from 19.77% in 2014 to 16.31% in 2015 in volume terms and from 25.16% last year to 21.51% this year.

Democratic Republic of Congo, Australia and Canada were the next three producing countries by volume, while Canada, Namibia and South Africa ranked 3rd, 4th and 5th in terms of value.

Among the larger producers, Lesotho (US$ 931.39), Namibia (US$ 591.08), Liberia (US$ 458.76) and Sierra Leone (US$ 308.51) rank at the top in terms of per carat prices realised, with South Affrica (US$ 192.57), Botswana (US$ 143.73), Canada (US$ 143.52), Angola (US$ 131.11) being above the global average. Rough from the Russian Federation yielded a per carat price of US$ 101.15.

India enjoys a 37.77% share in global rough imports in volume terms, up marginally from 37.55% last year, while in value terms the country’s share rose to 31.69% this year as against 30.40% last year.

India is much ahead of second placed importer, European Union, in terms of volume with the latter having a 30.23% share in global imports, but the gap is narrower in terms of value, with India’s 31.69% share being slightly ahead of the EU’s 27.97% share of global imports.

Total global production of rough in 2015 at 127.40 mn cts was slightly higher than the 124.78 mn carats produced last year. In terms of value however, the global production declined from US$ 14.5 bn in 2014 to US$ 13.88 bn in 2015, with average price per carat dropping from US$ 116.7 last year to US$ 108.96 this year.