De Beers’ 2024 Q2 Sales Spark Surge in Diamond Revenue
Anglo American‘s diamond subsidiary, De Beers, has reported a significant increase in diamond revenues despite the rough sales for its latest sales cycle.
De Beers last year announced that the seventh sales cycle of 2023, which took place between 14 and 29 August, generated only $370 million in sales. This is a drop from the previous cycle’s $411 million and $456 million, and a significant decline from the seventh cycle of 2022, which generated $638 million.
According to De Beers CEO, Al Cook, the decline in revenues can be attributed to the current macroeconomic environment, which has led to the reduction in diamond jewellery in key consumer markets. The retail recovery in China remains slow, voluntary import moratorium on rough diamonds into India will see extended Diwali holidays and factory closures in the world’s largest diamond-cutting centre. In recognition of these conditions, De Beers continued with reduced rough diamond availability in the ninth sales cycle of 2023.
De Beers maintained support for its Sightholders with full purchase flexibility as the midstream re-establishes an equilibrium between wholesale supply and demand.
The diamond company De Beers sold $430 million of rough diamonds in the second sales cycle of this year.
Sales were higher than the $374 million of rough diamonds sold in the first quarter of this year but lower than the $497 million in rough diamonds sold in the second sales cycle of 2023.
“I’m pleased to see a further increase in demand for De Beers’ rough diamonds during the second sales cycle of 2024. However, ongoing economic uncertainty in the US has led to retailers restocking conservatively after the 2023 holiday season.
“Consumer demand for diamond jewellery is growing in India but remains sluggish in China. Overall, we expect that the ongoing recovery in rough diamond demand will be gradual as we move through the year,” he said.