De Beers’ third sales cycle generates $565m in revenue

Diamond miner De Beers, a subsidiary of diversified miner Anglo American, has announced a provisional rough diamond sales value of $565-million for the third sales cycle of 2022.

The value included global sightholder sales and auctions for the cycle.

“On the back of robust demand for rough diamonds in 2021 and jewellery sales in the first quarter of 2022, and reflecting continued year-on-year growth in consumer demand for diamond jewellery, demand for De Beers Group’s rough diamonds remained strong in the third sales cycle of 2022,” said De Beers CEO Bruce Cleaver on April 13.

Global sightholder sales account for about 90% of De Beers Group’s rough diamond sales, by value, through term contracts to sightholders at events called Sights.

Sights are held ten times a year in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa, where customers will inspect their rough diamond allocations before deciding whether to buy them.

These diamonds originate from De Beers Group’s owned and joint venture operations, and from mines that are certified against the Responsible Jewellery Council Code of Practices and compliant with the Best Practice Principles.

Various business types are represented in the global sightholder sales customer community, from large global manufacturers and niche specialists, to vertically integrated businesses with retail operations.

The majority of global sightholder sales’ rough diamonds are sold from Gaborone, in Botswana, to customers that typically export them to international markets for processing.

Owing to the restrictions on the movement of people and products in various jurisdictions around the globe, De Beers said it continued to implement a more flexible approach to rough diamond sales during the sales cycle, with the Sight events extended beyond its normal week-long duration.

As a result, the provisional rough diamond sales figure for the cycle represented the expected sales value for the period March 28 to April 12 and remained subject to adjustment based on final completed sales, the company said.

“As we head into the seasonally slower second quarter of the year, diamond businesses are adopting a more cautious and watchful approach in light of the war in Ukraine and associated sanctions, as well as Covid-19 lockdowns in China,” Cleaver concluded.