De Beers has reported provisional rough sales of $332 million at its 10th Sight (sales cycle) of the year – a fall compared to the $438 million it made in Cycle 9 this year, and also compared to the $452 million it made in Cycle 10, 2020. De Beers said it has maintained its “flexible approach to rough diamond sales” due to “the restrictions on the movement of people and products in various jurisdictions around the globe.”
Bruce Cleaver, CEO of De Beers Group, said: “Rough diamond demand and midstream sentiment continued to be positive in the final sales cycle of 2021, although as anticipated we saw some impact on sales ahead of the seasonal closure of polishing factories in southern Africa over the Christmas period. Nonetheless, despite the ongoing challenges of Covid-19, our rough diamond sales for the year are higher than what we saw in 2019 before the onset of the pandemic, and much higher than our sales in 2020. Consumer demand for diamond jewelry is continuing to perform very well over the key holiday period, so we head towards the new year with positive trading conditions and industry sentiment.”
In other De Beers news, IDEX Online reports that De Beers and Botswana have again delayed a renewal of their sales agreement due to COVID-19 challenges. The current agreement will run until the end of June 2022.
