Key statistics for the diamond industry

When you are looking to buy diamond rings online and searching through websites such as https://www.comparethediamond.com/ it is hard to believe that the beautiful ring you end up with is a part of a bigger lucrative worldwide industry.

Diamonds are as most people know mined from deep below the surface and have appeared as a result of extreme volcanic activity that has pushed the diamonds nearer to the surface through what is known as kimberlite pipes – essentially the funnels of lava that pushed the diamonds along with other substances from over 100 miles below ground level.

Mining of diamonds occurs in many parts of the world with Russia being one of the largest regions.

Here are some astonishing figures for the diamond industry:

• Just two years ago in 2016 128 million carats worth of diamonds were extracted from mines worldwide.
• In 2017 it was estimated that 650 million carats of diamond reserves could be found in mines in Russia; 150 million carats in Democratic Republic of Congo; 120 million carats in Australia; 90 million carats in Botswana; 70 million carats in South Africa and 90 million carats in all other regions added together.

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• In terms of production in 2017 the Democratic Republic of Congo was top of the list with 19 million carats; Russia produced 18 million carats; Australia 14 million carats; Botswana 6 million carats; South Africa 2 million carats and all the others added together amounted to 1 million carats.

• The global production of rough diamonds (diamonds that have not been through the process of cutting, shaping and polishing and are as near to its original condition upon excavation as they can be) has been subject to fluctuation over the last few years. Back in 2005 177 million carats of rough diamonds were produced this dipped in 2009 to 120 million carats and the reduction has been attributed to the economic downturn of 2008. In 2017 the production of rough diamond increased again to around 134 million carats.

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• The diamond industry tries to predict the amount of rough diamonds that will be produced in total across all mines in order to predict when production might decrease and when the mines might be reaching the end of their natural production lifespan. It is estimated that production in 2020 will be around 157 million carats and by 2030 this will reduce to 110 million carats.

• The price of diamonds per carat has dramatically increased since production first began in the large-scale mines in the 1960s. The value of money needs to be taken into consideration when comparing these figures but in simple terms the $ price per carat in around twenty-year increments is:

1960 = $2,700

1980 = $10,500

2000 = $15,100

2016 = $30,925