Angola exported 620,485 carats of diamonds in January, at an average price per carat of US$136.24, the second highest value since October 2016, according to official figures.

According to figures from the latest monthly report from the Angolan Finance Ministry on diamond tax revenues, compiled by Portuguese news agency Lusa, total sales in January reached US$84,535,523.

These sales, in turn, led to Angola collecting 1.331 billion kwanzas (5 million euros) in taxes on diamonds.

The average price of each carat of diamonds exported by Angola was only higher in November 2017, when it reached US$138.60.

Gross sales of diamonds in Angola totalled US$1 billion in 2017, according to the Minister of Mining Resources and Oil.

Total tax from the sale of diamonds, Angola’s second-largest export, rose 5% from 2016 to 2017 up to 14.7 billion kwanzas (55.6 million euros), including Industrial Tax and royalties from mining companies.

According to the Angolan Government, with the entry into operation of the largest kimberlite in the world, at the Luaxe mine in the province of Lunda Sul, and other small medium-sized projects in the diamond provinces of Lunda Norte and Lunda Sul, Malanje, Bié and Kwando Kubango, Angola may double its current annual diamond production as of this year. source: Macauhub