Creamer Media Login

De Beers makes diamond buyers cough up with another price rise

13th July 2021

Font size: - +

De Beers raised prices for its rough diamonds yet again as the industry’s dramatic recovery this year shows little sign of slowing.

The top producer increased prices by about 5% at its July sale taking place this week, with most of the rises focused around higher-quality stones, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. The Anglo American Plc unit raised prices at almost every sale this year, helping make up for a collapse in sales in 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic brought the diamond world to a standstill.

The company is now cashing in on resurgent demand from its customers, the mostly family-owned businesses that trade, cut and polish the stones. Buyers have been replenishing supplies and are competing fiercely for goods needed to keep factories running. Consumer demand remains strong and prices of polished gems are also rising.

A De Beers spokesman declined to comment.

While initially being hit hard by the pandemic, diamonds have since proved one of the more resilient industries. Stuck-at-home consumers have kept buying stones with competing luxuries such as travel not an option due to coronavirus restrictions. That robust demand has continued as the global economy opens up, with strong sales in the key markets of the US and China.

Still, some buyers are concerned that the price increases from De Beers and rival Alrosa PJSC have gone to far, especially as polished prices need to rise higher in the future to justify rates that rough stones are fetching right now.

Edited by Bloomberg

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

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?

Click Here

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

➕

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

➕

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION

➕