ArmInfo. At the end of 2023, 4.4 million technical (synthetic) and natural, rough and processed diamonds were exported from Armenia, almost twice as much as a year ago. Arevik Margaryan, Head of the Department of Strategic Sector of the Ministry of Economy, informs.
The Ministry of Economy made a similar statement, trying to refute the information spread in mass media about the re-export of large volumes of rough diamonds through Armenia. The media sources cited official data, according to which cutting factories received only 160 thousand carats of natural diamonds last year.
"We imported 593 thousand carats of diamonds, exported 477 thousand carats of diamonds. If you look at the balance, about 276 thousand carats of diamonds were sold on the domestic market," the official said, clearly confusing the data.
Meanwhile, about 439 thousand carats of industrial diamonds were imported, and about 1200 thousand carats were exported from Armenia, which indicates a significant increase in the production of synthetic stones.
According to Margaryan, along with the development of the sector, the number of industrial companies also increased. In particular, as of the end of 2023, 23 logging enterprises were operating in the republic.
According to Tigran Khachatryan, Executive director of the recently established state-owned Hay-Almast CJSC (Armenian Diamond), in 2023 alone, approximately $58 million worth of natural diamonds were provided to cutting companies. Raw materials are imported from the Russian Federation, the UAE and India, and are exported mainly to the UAE . At the same time, he emphasized the importance of measures to increase the price competitiveness of the industry, expand and diversify raw material import markets.
