De Beers, the world’s biggest diamond producer by volume, yesterday said it sold $630 million (R10.6 billion) of rough diamonds in its sixth sales cycle for this year.
De Beers, 85 percent owned by global resources company Anglo American, said owing to the restrictions on the movement of people and products in various jurisdictions around the globe it continued to implement a more flexible approach to rough diamond sales during the sixth sales cycle of 2022.
“As a result, the provisional rough diamond sales figure quoted for Cycle 6 represents the expected sales value for the period July 11 to 26, and remains subject to adjustment based on final completed sales,” the group said.
De Beers chief executive Bruce Cleaver said: “Following a period of consistently robust demand in the first half, we continued to see steady demand for De Beers rough diamonds in the sixth sales cycle of the year.
“However, the diamond industry continues to adopt a watchful approach in light of the risks to consumer sentiment presented by macro-economic challenges.”
In its latest results released on July 22, Anglo American said it forecast a higher annual output of rough diamonds from its De Beers business, bolstered by demand for natural diamonds and recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Anglo American said strong demand for rough diamonds continued into the second quarter, with rough diamond sales totalling 9.4 million carats (8.3 million carats on a consolidated basis) compared with 7.3 million carats (6.5 million carats on a consolidated basis).
BUSINESS REPORT