Botswana’s state-owned rough marketing company, Okavango Diamond Company (ODC), has cancelled its second consecutive auction as poor demand persists, according to media reports.
Rapaport reports that the rough trader told its customers in an email last Monday that viewings that had been set for December 3 to 13 and the spot auction scheduled for December 16 would be shelved.
ODC had already cancelled its November sale, but the October auction will go ahead with viewings ongoing ahead of the October 7 sale.
The company did not give clients a reason for the cancellation.
ODC said on its website that it will confirm auction dates “on a sale-by-sale basis” due, among other things, to “current market conditions.”
Several diamond miners, such as De Beers and Petra Diamonds, lowered their sales this year in response to an oversupply in the midstream.
Okavango has the right to sell 25% of rough from Debswana, the joint venture between the Botswana government and De Beers.
This will grow to 30% and eventually up to 50% under De Beers’ new sales agreement with the southern African nation.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief, Rough&Polished
