The Angolan National Diamond Company (Endiama) has stockpiled more than one million carats of diamonds in anticipation of an improvement in the market price.
The company's chairman, José Manuel Ganga Júnior, was quoted by the Angolan news agency Angop as saying that the diamonds will be put on the market as prices improve.
He said that Angola does not have enough consumers to routinely absorb the preceding six months' production levels.
“The market situation is not very good at the moment, which is reflected in the companies’ operating costs,” said Ganga Júnior.
“That’s why we have to find ways to survive, using the creativity that is required.”
Angola earned $711.7 million from the export of more than 4.6 million carats in the first half of the year, a decline of 2.8% compared to the same period last year.
The country seeks to produce 12,41 million carats this year.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
