Namibia’s diamond exports decreased by N$1.2 billion for October as diamond prices in the country have been declining in recent months, official figures show.
According to the Bank of Namibia (BoN), the rising demand for synthetic diamonds has led to softening prices for diamonds.
“Diamond prices continued to decline since the last Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting due to the persistent lacklustre global consumer demand, amid the rising supply of lab-grown diamonds, while the food prices also fell, mainly as a result of the oversupply of some food products,” said BoN Governor Johannes !Gawaxab, while announcing the 7.75% repo rate which remained unchanged.
“However, the price of gold has risen most recently due to safe-haven considerations and expectations that US interest rates have peaked. The uranium spot price continued to increase since the last MPC meeting, supported by higher demand for cleaner, safe and secure energy as well as supply interruptions,” he added.
According to the Trade Statistics Bulletin, during October 2023, uranium had the largest share of 19% of Namibia’s total exports ahead of fish with 16.1% and non-monetary gold with 14.7%. Petroleum oils accounted for 8.4% of exports in the fourth position and precious stones (diamonds) came in the fifth position contributing 7.9 percent.
In addition, Namibia’s export earnings recorded a decrease of 12.1% from N$7.8 billion recorded in September 2023 to N$6.8 billion.
In contrast, the import bill for October increased by 2.1% from N$11.1 billion recorded during the preceding month, resulting in a trade deficit of N$4.5 billion when compared to a trade deficit of N$3.3 billion recorded in September 2023.
The report reveals that between October 2022 and October 2023, Namibia recorded no trade surplus whereas trade deficits averaged at N$2.6 billion during this period.
Meanwhile, !Gawaxab said the country’s overall merchandise trade deficit narrowed marginally by 1% to N$31.7 billion during the first 10 months of 2023 compared to the same period in 2022, as export earnings continued to grow faster than import payments.
As a result, Namibia’s exports continued to be on an upward trajectory, recording N$81.7 billion for the first ten months of 2023, higher when compared to N$78.3 billion registered during the same period of 2022.
“The rise in export earnings was reflected in increased export volumes of gold, uranium, diamonds and fish, augmented by the depreciation of the Namibia Dollar against major trading currencies,” the Governor said.
!Gawaxab said since the last MPC meeting, prices of key commodities have diverged, whereas average prices of zinc and Brent crude oil declined, largely on account of weaker demand from China and the deteriorating global economic environment, respectively.
