Slight Decline in Botswana’s Rough Diamond Exports

Botswana exported $139.6 worth of rough diamonds in July, according to Bank of Botswana. This brings the country’s rough diamond exports in the second quarter of the year to $650.3 million.

Exports in the second quarter are surprising 0.9 percent less than exported in the second quarter of 2009, when Botswana exported $655.9 million worth of goods.

However, in the first six months of 2010, Botswana exported $1.41 billion worth of rough diamonds, a sharp 58 percent increase compared to the first half of 2009. This is an outcome of very low exports in the beginning of 2009 versus high exports in the beginning of 2010.