Jilted by lockdown: Why marriage after global isolation is just what the diamond sector needs

(miningmx.com) - The wedding economy is estimated to be worth $300bn annually with a host of industries, from travel and hospitality to the garment sector, hanging on to its finely-tailored coattails. Perhaps no industry is more desirous, therefore, of sweet nuptials than the jewellery sector – diamonds in particular. The last three years have been torrid for the global diamond sector. De Beers exemplified the rut: its 2019 profit of $558m was the lowest in a decade. A sales upturn in January suggested the beginning of the long-anticipated recovery, until COVID-19 sent consumers from high street into lockdown. Unpolished or rough diamond sales to the secondary sector, the cutters and polishers who like to inspect goods in person, was stopped in its tracks. Botswana, where De Beers convenes ten sales meetings a year with selected buyers, closed its borders. Other miners ran into similar travel bans as the pandemic tore through the world. Yet the forces that brought the diamond sector to a halt in March might yet provide the seeds of its recovery.