LUANDA (Reuters) - Angola state-owned diamond firm Endiama is expected to produce between 7 and 9 million carats of diamonds in 2009, compared to 8.9 million in the previous year, its director of planning and investment said on Friday. Alberto Fancony said the diamond industry had been badly hit by the financial crisis in 2008 and that he expected the sector to suffer until the end of this year. "Angolan diamond prices fell around 75 percent last year but have recovered recently," Fancony told reporters at a company presentation. "I think the crisis (in the sector) will last until the end of the year." Fancony said Endiama -- which supervises Angola's diamond sector -- was concerned about the flow of thousands of illegal miners from the Democratic Republic of the Congo that have been recently caught by authorities searching for diamonds in Angola's rivers. Angola and the DRC share a common border. | 
