Diamond manufacturing reaches saturation

Friday, July 04, 2014

High labour costs in Botswana’s fledging diamond cutting and polishing companies is threatening the expansion of the industry, with government unlikely to issue more licences due to shortages of suitable supply.

Due to relatively higher labour costs in comparison with other cutting centres around the world, local firms can only viably cut larger stones, which are in limited supply in Botswana.

It is estimated that diamond cutting costs $12 to $25 per carat in India, $20 to $30 in China while in Botswana it costs between $60 and $65 per carat thereby forcing local manufacturers to cut only larger stones which have larger profitability margins.

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