De Beers rough diamond sale rakes in $660mln

De Beers earned $660 million from its first sales cycle of 2022 compared to $663 million, a year earlier or $336 million in the tenth sales cycle of 2021.
Company chief executive Bruce Cleaver said there was strong growth in consumer demand for diamond jewellery over the end of the year holiday season.
“As a result, we saw the continuation of robust rough diamond demand in the first sales cycle of the year as buyers focus on restocking depleted inventories,” he said.
De Beers continued to implement a more flexible approach to rough diamond sales with the sight event extended beyond its normal week-long duration.
The group recently increased rough diamond prices at the first sale of the year.
Bloomberg reported last month, citing unnamed sources privy to the goings-on, that De Beers hiked the price of larger stones by about 5%, while some smaller rough stones registered prices increases of about 20%.
Rapaport on the other hand reported that the price increases for larger stones varied between 5% and 12%, while that of smaller stones rose by about 15%.
De Beers raised prices of rough diamonds by about 23% last year as it recovered from the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, which rattled the industry.

Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished