Armenia cut diamond output falls 25%

Tacy Ltd., Israel

Nov 7 2004

ARMENIA CUT DIAMOND OUTPUT FALLS 25% Armenia produced US$160 million worth of cut diamonds in the first
nine months of 2004, marking a decrease of some 25 percent as
compared to the same period of 2003, according to a spokesman for the
Trade and Economic Development Ministry of Armenia.
Sales of cut diamonds fell to US$157 million, while exports fell to
US$156 million.

The decreases are attributed to a drop in supplies of Russian rough
diamonds. Armenia imported just 100,000 carats of rough diamonds from
Russia in the nine months under an intergovernmental agreement that
provides a quota of 400,000 carats for 2004.