De Beers CEO Bruce Cleaver
Diamond miner De Beers’ rough diamond sales value for the ninth sales cycle of this year increased to $390-million, compared with the $297-million reported for the eighth sales cycle.
Sales were, however, lower than the $442-million recorded for the ninth sales cycle of 2018.
CEO Bruce Cleaver commented that with signs of increasing polished price stability, the ninth sales cycle saw an improvement in sentiment from rough diamond buyers.
“Global consumer demand for diamond jewellery at the retail level continued to be broadly stable; however, with midstream trading conditions still in the process of rebalancing, we offered sightholders further flexibility during the sight to provide support.”
Newswire Bloomberg reported earlier this month that De Beers had cut its prices by about 5% for the November sales cycle as a means to help improve the profitability of the traders and polishers that buy its rough diamonds.