European Commission releases statistics for 2006

A statistical analyses on year 2006�s global rough diamond production and trade has been released by The European Commission, the chair of the Kimberley Process (KP) for 2007. This effort of accurate reports being submitted by the KP members, would help track conflict diamonds.

The year saw a downfall of diamond production worldwide to 175.53 million carats, measuring a fall by 0.65%, with Russia contributing the highest of 38.36 million carats ($2.57 billion).

However, the global value of production increased by 3.74% to $11.974 billion with the average per carat now being $68.22 compared to $65.33 per ct noted in 2005. Botswana�s share was the highest at $3.2 billion (34.29 million carats), while the most valuable gems worth $743.23 per carat were from Lesotho.

The European Community was the single largest trader with 191 million carats worth $13.73 billion as imports and 177 million carats valued at $13.83 billion as exports. India recorded the largest individual rough imports of 172.25 million carats worth $8.55 billion. It produced 10,278 carats worth $1.76 million, with an average value of $171.55 per carat.