JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) − Although lockdowns across the world have had a significantly negative impact on diamond sales, demand is beginning to gain traction again as the industry nears the popular Christmas selling season and certain regions emerge from months-long strict lockdowns, says De Beers CEO Bruce Cleaver.

Speaking during the De Beers Diamond Impact Week keynote session, which also featured Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi, Cleaver said the levels of demand experienced in the second quarter of the year were unique and probably the lowest on record.

However, demand did not entirely dry up, he notes.

During these unprecedented times, he points out that De Beers was guided by two things – the one being the fact that Covid-19 will pass and, secondly, that there will be a better future for the diamonds industry.

“It is important for us to be ready for when [the better future] happens. We certainly will never lose faith that there will be a future for us and the diamond industry.”

In the beginning phases of the Covid-19 outbreak, Cleaver says the diamond miner focused on doing its part to help contain and limit the spread of the virus. However, in terms of keeping the business operational, he says De Beers prioritised keeping its businesses going, which it did in partnerships with governments.

At the time, he says the last thing De Beers wanted to inadvertently do was to put people out of business. “It was really important that we kept our little piece of the value chain of the world going because many people depend on us and we demand on many people. Many people in the supply chain would not exist if we stopped operating.”

As such, Cleaver says it was of critical importance that De Beers found ways of keeping the value chains and supply chains going so that the people that depend on them could at least keep some economic activity going.

One such method undertaken by De Beers to keep demand alive, or at least in the backs of people’s minds, was to release more-than-usual “flash reports” in which De Beers made several announcements and released research reports to help drive demand.

“We felt it was important that we kept talking to the diamond industry and that people understood our view that there was going to be a future and that we would get through this,” he says.

An encouraging snippet gained from the release of the flash reports was feedback that informed De Beers of consumer sentiment that no matter how bad Covid-19 issues got, the lockdowns helped reinforce in people’s minds what was most important to them, Cleaver says.

“The thing that came out on top of all these pieces of research is that relationships really matter. In fact, they matter more in these times when we are all locked up, because we have time to reflect on what really matters . . . diamonds are perfectly positioned to fill that because they are given or bought at great moments in people’s lives and they mark momentous things in people’s lives. They are also a celebration of joy and personal success or success in a relationship.”

BOTSWANA’S SAVING GRACE

Meanwhile, Masisi noted that the diamond industry had helped build Botswana’s economy and remains a critical part of the country’s economic driving force. “The role of diamonds in the recovery of Botswana will always be central. If [Botswana] is to recover, [it] needs to make the best with what [it] already has from diamonds – skills sets, infrastructure, systems, institutions and governance systems.”

He adds that, emerging from the Covid-19 pandemic, diamonds will remain a focus of the country, which is “open for [diamond-related] business”.

“The close relationship between the diamond industry and the tourism sector is quite significant in its contribution to Botswana’s development agenda,” says Masisi.

As such, he thanked all the roleplayers in the diamond value chain for their continued resilience over recent months.

“Even though diamond sales dropped significantly in the first and second quarters of the year, all the roleplayers continued to save the industry from total collapse – to this extent we are beginning to notice an improvement in sales, albeit minimally.”

“Botswana remains open for business and the local beneficiation initiative is now operational with international transactions taking place,” he points out.