THE Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) has called for the slashing of diamond royalties by half, to five percent of total sales, to circumvent a mounting viability crisis triggered by a collapsed international diamond market.
The diamond miner is pushing for a review of the foreign currency retention threshold on export sales from 70 percent to 80 percent.
It is also lobbying the government to formalise the removal of a 2,5 percent depletion fee that remains on its books due to the lack of a confirming statutory instrument.
ZCDC chief executive Douglas Zimbango told lawmakers that the diamond producer is battling a 72 percent decline in rough diamond prices from the post-pandemic peak.
“The international diamond market remains in a downturn, and specifically the unique small Marange rough diamonds, which will typically command a 2026 price of between US$22 to US$34 per carat compared to other producers who average US$100 for their better-quality rough diamonds,” Zimbango told the Public Accounts Committee.
“Internationally, rough diamond prices have gone down by 26 to 35 percent but Zimbabwe goods have experienced a worse downturn (72 percent+ from peak US$79 to US$22 per carat) because of product profile, geopolitical tensions, synthetic diamonds, market collusion and an unsatisfactory sales framework.”
Despite the compounding structural shocks, he said ZCDC is advancing a defensive turnaround strategy to meet its 2026 annual production target of five million carats from 3,8 million carats in 2025.
He highlighted that ZCDC has produced about 26,5 million carats since operations began in 2016. Zimbango said the miner intends to transition completely toward a less capital-intensive “owner mining” model.
The transition is anchored by a newly proposed US$7,2 million capital injection, with the state shareholder expected to take the leading funding role to procure essential equipment.
ZCDC is one of the State-owned enterprises under the Mutapa Investment Fund, the country’s sovereign wealth fund.
Looking downstream, he said ZCDC seeks to buffer its exposure to volatile international rough markets by exploring alternative mineral concessions and expediting its domestic kimberlitic exploration projects alongside its joint venture partner, Alrosa.
He added that kimberlite deposits are being prioritised because they are less costly to extract over time and historically attract much stronger market valuations than the company’s current alluvial asset base.
Speaking at the same event, Mutapa Investment Fund deputy chief investment officer Ernest Denhere said ZCDC was facing unprecedented challenges due to changes on the global stage.
“The company is navigating one of the most challenging periods in its history, shaped by geological constraints, a global diamond market and upheaval and operational headwinds that demand urgent strategic attention,” he said.
“We need to acknowledge the seismic disruption that laboratory-grown diamonds, otherwise known as synthetic diamonds, have inflicted on the natural diamond industry globally. This is not a passing trend but a structural market shift that ZCDC and indeed every natural diamond producer in the world now has to plan around.
He added that at their peak, lab-grown diamonds have captured approximately 15 percent of the rough diamond market.
“Mass production in India and China has exerted significant downward pressure on prices for synthetic stones,” Denhere said.
He highlighted that the proliferation of affordable synthetics fundamentally resets consumer price expectations, not only for the lab-grown stones but for natural diamonds as well.
“Against this global backdrop, Zimbabwe’s specific diamond sector challenges are more acute. In 2024, Zimbabwe’s diamond extraction grew by eight percent in volume, yet the total value of the exports declined by 46 percent year-on-year to about US$164 million,” he said.
“Our average price per carat fell to just US$31, the lowest among major global producers, less than half of the US$62 per carat achieved in 2023. In the first half of 2025, export volumes fell a further 60 percent to 2,7 million carats compared to the same period in 2024.”
The developments come as Zimbabwe’s diamond sales amounted to 784 764 carats valued at US$21,55 million in the first quarter of 2026, reflecting declines of 11 percent in volume and 29 percent in value against the same period in 2025.