Botswana pushed into second place among the largest producers of diamonds in 2009 by Russia due to the global financial crisis, has once again restored its supremacy.
It took just one year for Botswana to return to the diamond pedestal.
According to the data released by the Kimberley Process on global production of and trade in precious stones in 2010, Botswana appeared once again in the lead as the world's largest diamond producer in terms of their absolute value.
Last year, this African country earned $2.59 billion selling 22 million carats of diamonds mined in its territory.
Russia, although its output was higher than that of Botswana, 34 million carats, has gained $2.38 billion from the sale of its rough - $210 million less than the African competitor, according to Afrique7.
Experts attribute this to the fact that diamonds mined in Botswana are of excellent quality which boosts their price on international markets.
This year, Botswana feels even more comfortable in the chair of the global diamond leader. According to the national central bank, the country’s diamond export in the second quarter hit a record $1.5 billion, up 22% over the same period in 2010.
This is good news for De Beers, which together with the Botswana government has a joint venture of Debswana, which is responsible for the production of precious stones in the country and whose turnover for the first six months of this year reached a record $3.5 billion.
Some time ago, asked by Rough&Polished Ponatshego Kedikilwe, Minister of Mineral, Energy and Water Resources of Botswana said he expected that diamond output in his country would be about 33 million carats in 2011.
"I hope we will reach this level, but given that we are developing new fields, we can assume that production will grow in the near future thanks to new technologies", Kedikilwe said on the sidelines of the Fifth Diamond Conference in Antwerp last May.
Alex Shishlo, Editor in Chief of the European Bureau, Rough&Polished
