(IDEX Online) - De Beers cut diamond prices by about 5 percent across the board at its November Sight, which ends on November 8, Bloomberg reports.
According to reports, the price of some of the cheaper diamonds were slashed by double digits.
Other Sightholders claimed De Beers also downgraded assortments, although this has yet to be confirmed.
While the results of the ninth Sight of the year will not be available until next week, previous results show that sales have been declining since April of this year. Overall, sales results are far below the results seen in 2018, indicating the scale of the current industry downturn.
Sight 1 | Sight 2 | Sight 3 | Sight 4 | Sight 5 | Sight 6 | Sight 7 | Sight 8 | |
2019 | $500 M | $496 M | $581 M | $416 M | $391 M | $250 M | $287 M | $295 M (provisional) |
2018 | $672 M | $563 M | $524 M | $554 M | $581 M | $533 M | $503 M | $482 M |
"De Beers is a price setter and has not made any price cuts thus far, despite the open market price for rough diamonds falling by about 9 percent year-to-date," said Edward Sterck, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets," reported Bloomberg. "The most important market participant finally taking action after holding out for so long feels like a fairly typical indication that things may be about to improve."
Sales in 2019 so far are over $1 billion lower compared to 2018.