De Beers realises $450m from first rough diamond sale of 2023

De Beers earned $450 million from the first sales cycle of 2023 compared to $660 million, a year earlier or $417 million realised during the 10th sales cycle of 2022, according to data released by Anglo American.
The diamond group chief executive Bruce Cleaver said consumer demand for diamond jewellery over the 2022 end-of-year holiday season performed well.
“As expected, given the macroeconomic outlook at the time, Sightholders took a cautious approach in late 2022 in planning their 2023 allocation schedule, with a greater weighting of goods to be purchased as the year progresses,” he said.
“While there is still some uncertainty over the macroeconomic environment, we see cautious optimism for demand to increase as China continues to reopen and inflation rates start to decrease in many major economies."
Rapaport recently reported that De Beers reduced prices for larger goods and increased that for smaller stones.
It claimed, citing unnamed sources, that prices fell by up to 10% for stones weighing 2 carats and above, with low-quality goods experiencing the biggest declines, while diamond prices under 0.75 carats rose by similar percentages, reflecting a market split that has been continuing since the end of last year.

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