Endiama incurs heavy loss due to COVID-19 pandemic – report

The Angolan state-owned diamond company, Endiama recorded a loss of $400 million from its 2020 operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the local media.
Angola had initially targeted to produce diamonds worth $1.4 billion last year.
Angop news agency reports that Endiama produced 7.5 million carats last year against an initial target of 10.5 million carats.
Company chairperson José Manuel Ganga Júnior was quoted as saying that they opted not to halt production last year but reduce the staff.
Several diamond companies, including De Beers, temporarily suspended diamond sales around March last year when governments closed their borders and introduced strict lockdowns to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
The bulk of the companies later resumed diamond sales, although they had to adjust their traditional ways of conducting auctions.
The country earned about 1.3 billion from just over 9.44 million carats of diamonds sold in 2019.

Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished