Markets
China’s Ultra Rich Lost $100 Billion in Just One Month
What Goes Up, Must Come Down
There’s no doubt that China’s market has been a roller coaster as of late. A year ago, the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index was at close to 2,000 points. However, by June 12, 2015, it skyrocketed to a peak of 5166.35, creating trillions of dollars of paper wealth.
From there, participants in the market have had their will tested, as the market suddenly corrected by dropping 30% in the course of one month.
The Bloomberg Billionaires Index tracks the world’s 400 richest people in the world, including 26 from mainland China. Taking a look at the value of their portfolios can provide some insight as to the ride they are on. Here’s the change in wealth of billionaires in China versus those in Germany for this year:
China’s ultra wealthy were up 35% from the start of the year in late May and early June. Then the market crash hit, reeling in their gains to just 10%.
Since then, the stock market has had a bit of a bounce, bringing gains year-to-date to 16% as of last week:
The portfolios of billionaires in the United States and Western Europe are boring in comparison. The wealthiest people in the United States have lost 1% so far in 2015, and those in Western Europe fared better with a 4% increase.
Here’s the whipsaw stories of two Chinese billionaires:
Zhou Qunfei
Zhou Qunfei is China’s richest woman and serves as the chairman of consumer electronics supplier Lens Technology Co Ltd.
Zhou’s fortune soared when Lens Technology IPO’d earlier in the year, as the stock jumped 500% in early trading. Her fortune went up to $10 billion in a matter of months. Then, with the June crash, 40% of her fortune was erased as it decreased by $5 billion.
Pan Sutong
Pan Sutong is the Chinese-born chairman of the Goldin Group, a conglomerate based in Hong Kong. In January, Pan Sutong had $3.7 billion in wealth. Stock in Goldin’s subsidiaries soared, and Mr. Sutong had increased his fortune to peak at an impressive $25 billion.
Since then, the stocks have gotten crushed, bringing him back to where he started: $4 billion.
The Implications of the See-Saw
Most investors in the Chinese markets are “mom and pop” investors – Credit Suisse thinks that 80% of urban Chinese have money in stocks, and many of them don’t even have a high school education. Because of this, there is likely to still be strong volatility as this new group of investors collectively learns how to trade in the market.
China’s ultra rich, meanwhile, are trying to lock in their gains by diversifying elsewhere. This is because the wealthiest people in the country have an unusual amount of wealth tied to public markets compared to the rest of the world: 66% of the wealth of billionaires in China and Hong Kong is “paper wealth” in the public markets.
In the United States and Western Europe, it is less than 50%.
To even out their portfolios, the ultra wealthy have sought out real estate both in China and in foreign markets. This is something we covered out in a recent Chart of the Week as Chinese investors left the volatile stock market in search for a better store of wealth.
See below:
Original graphics from: Bloomberg
Markets
Ranked: The World’s Top Diamond Mining Countries, by Carats and Value
Who are the leaders in rough diamond production and how much is their diamond output worth?

Ranked: World Diamond Mining By Country, Carat, and Value
Only 22 countries in the world engage in rough diamond production—also known as uncut, raw or natural diamonds—mining for them from deposits within their territories.
This chart, by Sam Parker illustrates the leaders in rough diamond production by weight and value. It uses data from Kimberly Process (an international certification organization) along with estimates by Dr. Ashok Damarupurshad, a precious metals and diamond specialist in South Africa.
Rough Diamond Production, By Weight
Russia takes the top spot as the world’s largest rough diamond producer, mining close to 42 million carats in 2022, well ahead of its peers.
Russia’s large lead over second-place Botswana (24.8 million carats) and third-ranked Canada (16.2 million carats) indicates that the country’s diamond production is circumventing sanctions due to the difficulties in tracing a diamond’s origin.
Here’s a quick breakdown of rough diamond production in the world.
Rank | Country | Rough Diamond Production (Carats) |
---|---|---|
1 | 🇷🇺 Russia | 41,923,910 |
2 | 🇧🇼 Botswana | 24,752,967 |
3 | 🇨🇦 Canada | 16,249,218 |
4 | 🇨🇩 DRC | 9,908,998 |
5 | 🇿🇦 South Africa | 9,660,233 |
6 | 🇦🇴 Angola | 8,763,309 |
7 | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | 4,461,450 |
8 | 🇳🇦 Namibia | 2,054,227 |
9 | 🇱🇸 Lesotho | 727,737 |
10 | 🇸🇱 Sierra Leone | 688,970 |
11 | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | 375,533 |
12 | 🇧🇷 Brazil | 158,420 |
13 | 🇬🇳 Guinea | 128,771 |
14 | 🇨🇫 Central African Republic | 118,044 |
15 | 🇬🇾 Guyana | 83,382 |
16 | 🇬🇭 Ghana | 82,500 |
17 | 🇱🇷 Liberia | 52,165 |
18 | 🇨🇮 Cote D'Ivoire | 3,904 |
19 | 🇨🇬 Republic of Congo | 3,534 |
20 | 🇨🇲 Cameroon | 2,431 |
21 | 🇻🇪 Venezuela | 1,665 |
22 | 🇲🇱 Mali | 92 |
Total | 120,201,460 |
Note: South Africa’s figures are estimated.
As with most other resources, (oil, gold, uranium), rough diamond production is distributed unequally. The top 10 rough diamond producing countries by weight account for 99.2% of all rough diamonds mined in 2022.
Diamond Mining, by Country
However, higher carat mined doesn’t necessarily mean better value for the diamond. Other factors like the cut, color, and clarity also influence a diamond’s value.
Here’s a quick breakdown of diamond production by value (USD) in 2022.
Rank | Country | Rough Diamond Value (USD) |
---|---|---|
1 | 🇧🇼 Botswana | $4,975M |
2 | 🇷🇺 Russia | $3,553M |
3 | 🇦🇴 Angola | $1,965M |
4 | 🇨🇦 Canada | $1,877M |
5 | 🇿🇦 South Africa | $1,538M |
6 | 🇳🇦 Namibia | $1,234M |
7 | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | $424M |
8 | 🇱🇸 Lesotho | $314M |
9 | 🇸🇱 Sierra Leone | $143M |
10 | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | $110M |
11 | 🇨🇩 DRC | $65M |
12 | 🇧🇷 Brazil | $30M |
13 | 🇱🇷 Liberia | $18M |
14 | 🇨🇫 Central African Republic | $15M |
15 | 🇬🇾 Guyana | $14M |
16 | 🇬🇳 Guinea | $6M |
17 | 🇬🇭 Ghana | $3M |
18 | 🇨🇲 Cameroon | $0.25M |
19 | 🇨🇬 Republic of Congo | $0.20M |
20 | 🇨🇮 Cote D'Ivoire | $0.16M |
21 | 🇻🇪 Venezuela | $0.10M |
22 | 🇲🇱 Mali | $0.06M |
Total | $16,290M |
Note: South Africa’s figures are estimated. Furthermore, numbers have been rounded and may not sum to the total.
Thus, even though Botswana only produced 59% of Russia’s diamond weight in 2022, it had a trade value of nearly $5 billion, approximately 1.5 times higher than Russia’s for the same year.
Another example is Angola, which is ranked 6th in diamond production, but 3rd in diamond value.
Both countries (as well as South Africa, Canada, and Namibia) produce gem-quality rough diamonds versus countries like Russia and the DRC whose diamonds are produced mainly for industrial use.
Which Regions Produce the Most Diamonds in 2022?
Unsurprisingly, Africa is the largest rough diamond producing region, accounting for 51% of output by weight, and 66% by value.
Rank | Region | Share of Rough Diamond Production (%) | Share of Rough Diamond Value (%) |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Africa | 51.4% | 66.4% |
2 | Europe | 34.9% | 32.9% |
3 | North America | 13.5% | 52.8% |
4 | South America | 0.2% | 2.4% |
However diamond mining in Africa is a relatively recent phenomenon, fewer than 200 years old. Diamonds had been discovered—and prized—as far back as 2,000 years ago in India, later on spreading west to Egyptian pharaohs and the Roman Empire.
By the start of the 20th century, diamond production on a large scale took off: first in South Africa, and decades later in other African countries. In fact between 1889–1959, Africa produced 98% of the world’s diamonds.
And in the latter half of the 20th century, the term blood diamond evolved from diamonds mined in African conflict zones used to finance insurgency or crime.
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