(IDEX Online) - De Beers today said it provisionally sold $390 million worth of rough diamonds at its ninth Sight of the year, which took place earlier this month.
This compares to sales of $442 million in 2018.
Sight 1 | Sight 2 | Sight 3 | Sight 4 | Sight 5 | Sight 6 | Sight 7 | Sight 8 | Sight 9 | |
2019 | $500 M | $496 M | $581 M | $416 M | $391 M | $250 M | $287 M | $297 M | $390 M (provisional) |
2018 | $672 M | $563 M | $524 M | $554 M | $581 M | $533 M | $503 M | $482 M | $442 M |
There are reports that De Beers cut the prices of various boxes from 3 percent up into the double digits, which accounts for the higher result.
De Beers did not directly mention the price cut in its press release, instead citing "increased polished price stability" and "an improvement in sentiment from rough diamond buyers."
However, De Beers Group CEO Bruce Cleaver said "global consumer demand for diamond jewelry at the retail level continues to be broadly stable but with midstream trading conditions still in the process of rebalancing, we offered Sightholders further flexibility during the Sight to provide support."
So far this year, Sight sales total $3.6 billion (provisional). In 2018, Sight sales for the full year totaled $5.39 billion.
The final Sight of the year will take place from December 9-13.