Botswana's exports of rough diamonds plunged 41 percent to $531.9 million in the third quarter of this year following low sales at De Beers sights in recent months.
The export figures for July were zero, while the figure for August was $358.5 million and the September export figure fell back to $173.4 million, according to the Bank of Botswana, Rapaport reported.
The vast majority of the country's exports are from Debswana, the joint venture between Botswana and De Beers, which saw a drop of 35 percent to 4.074 million carats in the third quarter of 2015.
Debswana’s output for the first nine months of 2015 dropped 15 percent to 15.6 million carats, De Beers said. De Beers’ overall production for the period fell 11 percent to 21.6 million carats.
De Beers' sightholders were allowed to reject about half of their allocated supply of rough diamonds in the October sight and can defer their November allocations to December.
