Botswana's Debswana rough diamond sales down 21% on weak demand
Sales of rough diamonds at Debswana Diamond Company fell 21% in the nine months up to September, Botswana's central bank data on Tuesday showed, as demand for gems slowed amid global economic uncertainty.
Debswana, equally owned by Botswana and Anglo American's De Beers, sells 75% of its output to De Beers while the balance is taken up by state-owned Okavango Diamond Company (ODC).
Botswana and De Beers in June agreed a new ten-year diamond sales agreement, which will raise ODC's share of Debswana output to 30% before it goes up to 40% in five years and eventually 50% by the end of the new contract.
But both ODC and De Beers have experienced lower demand with the state-owned company cancelling its November auction while the Anglo unit has allowed its contracted buyers to defer up to 100% of their contracted purchases for the remainder of 2023.
In the nine months up to September, Debswana sold diamonds worth $2.811-billion, down 21.4% from $3.578-billion sold in the same period last year. In pula terms, the decline in sales was lower at 14.3% to 37.055-billion pula ($2.72 billion), reflecting a stronger US dollar in the period.
While Debswana sales have been affected by weak global consumer demand, the company has not cut back production, with figures released by Anglo American last week showing the joint venture’s output edged up 1% in the nine months, to 18.5-million carats compared to same period last year.
Analysts at research firm Econsult said expanding production during a period of weak consumer demand will not be sustainable.
“It will not be possible to continue expanding mining with sales contracting, as the required stockpiling becomes increasingly expensive,” the research firm said in an Oct.31 note.
Comments
Research Reports
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
At SMS group, we have made it our mission to create a carbon-neutral and sustainable metals industry.
VISIT SHOWROOM
Immersive Technologies is the world's largest, proven and tested supplier of simulator training solutions to the global resources industry.
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
