WINDHOEK, May 30 (Xinhua) -- The diamond industry in Namibia saw an increase of 15 percent during 2017 in terms of production, according to the Namibia Mining Journal released Wednesday.

Earlier this year, statistics indicated that the diamond industry paid royalties of 1.2 billion Namibia dollars (95 million U.S. dollars) during the 2017/18 financial year, compared to the 1.1 billion Namibia dollars (87 million U.S. dollars) during the 2016/17 financial year.

The report states that Namibian diamond industry paid more in royalties than others in the minerals sector, who paid a combined 172.8 million Namibia dollars (13.7 million U.S. dollars) during the 2017/18 financial year.

According the report, interim figures for De Beers rough diamond sales for cycle-four of 2018 showed an increase of 7 billion Namibia dollars (555 million U.S. dollars).

"In the fourth sales cycle of the year, we saw robust demand for De Beers' rough diamonds, reflecting continued strong demand for diamond jewelry, especially from American consumers, as we head towards the important JCK Las Vegas trade show at the start of June," said Bruce Cleaver, CEO of the De Beers Group. Enditem