Anglo American has announced that rough diamond sales by its majority-owned De Beers Group have increased by 51% in the tenth cycle of the year compared to the previous cycle. However, this growth has not matched the levels seen in the corresponding period last year due to lower supply levels, which aligns with the current demand within the industry.
The diversified mining company, listed on the FTSE 100 index, revealed that De Beers sold $130 million worth of diamonds in the tenth sales cycle of this year, in contrast to $86 million in the ninth cycle and $417 million in the tenth cycle of 2022. It is important to note that there are 10 sales cycles annually.
De Beers Chief Executive Al Cook commented on the current state of the diamond industry: “As we move further into the end-of-year holiday season, we can observe signs that the diamond industry is finding its equilibrium between wholesale supply and demand. The prices of polished diamonds appear to have stabilized as inventory levels have decreased. However, the improvement in rough diamond trading conditions is expected to be gradual.”
These sales figures provided by Anglo American are provisional and are based on expected sales between November 9 and December 19.