Botswana's Rough Exports Revived, Still Lags Behind 2011

(IDEX Online News) – A certain improvement in Botswana's diamond exports in May. However, the country's exports to date are still far below its exports just a year ago.

Botswana exported $324 million worth of rough and polished diamonds in May, according to the Botswana monthly central bank report published by the Bank of Botswana.

The export is a 45 .5 percent improvement over the depressed exports in April, however exports slumped 30.2 percent compared to May 2011.

In the first five months of 2011, Batswana exported $1.37 billion worth of diamonds, a 21.4 percent decline compared to the January-May period of 2011.

The Bank of Botswana revised the April export figures, increasing it to $222.9 million.

The bank does not directly track diamond exports. It receives data from a group of diamond trading and manufacturing companies, including Diamond Trading Company Botswana, BCL, BOTASH, BMC, Teemane Manufacturing, Leo Schachter Botswana, Tati Nickel Mining Company, Mupane Gold Mining and Statistics Botswana.

Source: Bank of Botswana