Angola’s national diamond trading company, Sodiam sold 8.4 million carats of diamonds in 2018, which accounted for revenue of US$1.22 billion, a company executive said on Tuesday in Luanda.

Fernando Amaral, director of finance and the artisanal market, also said that compared with 2017 there was a 10.0% drop in the number of carats traded and an increase in revenue of 11.0%.

The director added that production in the fourth quarter of 2018 totalled 2.50 million carats, 2.0% more than in the same period of 2017, with 89.1% originating from kimberlites, according to the Angop news agency.

The average price per carat achieved in the last three months of the year was US$151.92, an increase of 26.0% over the same period of 2017. (macauhub)