DE BEERS sold $540m worth of rough diamonds in its third sales cycle of 2023 as at April 11 with the group seeing “continued good demand” as it moved into the second quarter of 2023
According to De Beers CEO Al Cook “sales were in line with expectations, and we continue to see some encouraging positive trends in consumer demand for diamond jewellery, not least in China where we’re beginning to see some signs of recovery in consumer confidence following the relaxation of travel restrictions.”
On March 15, Petra Diamonds CEO Richard Duffy also reported an improvement in diamond market conditions from China with “positive pricing trends as COVID-19 restrictions continue to dissipate coupled with a more buoyant outlook from the recent Hong Kong International Jewellery Show.”
Duffy added, “we continue to expect a supportive diamond market in the medium to longer- term as a result of the structural supply deficit.”
De Beers’ $540m estimate for the third cycle is provisional and subject to adjustment based on final completed sales. It compares with actual sales of $497m for the second cycle of 2023 and is marginally down on the actual sales of $566m for the third cycle of 2022.
De Beers sold a total of $6bn worth of rough diamonds in 2022 compared with $4.9bn in 2021 consisting of 30.4m carats (2021 – 33.4m carats). The group is forecasting production for 2023 of between 30m and 33m carats “subject to trading conditions.”
