De Beers Diamonds – Page 23 – The Diamond Certification Laboratory of Australia (DCLA)

Virus Likely to Impact Demand at De Beers Sight

De Beers and its clients expect a slowdown in rough-diamond sales at the company’s Botswana sight this week amid concerns about the coronavirus.

“It’s fair to say there will be an impact on rough demand in the short term,” De Beers chief financial officer Nimesh Patel said Thursday in an interview with Rapaport News. “I’d expect we’d see that at the [February] sight.”

The downturn in China’s retail market due to the virus outbreak has left manufacturers uncertain how long it will take them to sell diamonds they cut. Companies that supply to that region have been especially affected.

Rough that can produce polished with clarity above VS has shown weakness in recent tenders due to the lower Chinese demand, one sightholder said on condition of anonymity. Lower-clarity items destined for the American market have performed better, he added.

“It’s a mixed picture,” the sightholder explained. “People that are strongly focused on the Far East will be reluctant to buy, while those that work with the US and maybe Europe still seem to be going OK.”

De Beers will hold back goods rather than lowering prices, the dealer added, predicting that the sight would be small in value. The miner has kept prices stable for the sale, which began Monday, two sightholders confirmed with Rapaport News.

Another De Beers client expected buyers would take up most of their allocations at this sight, but said the next sale beginning March 30 would be weak if the coronavirus difficulties were still going on.

“I’m hopeful this crisis might not last more than two or three weeks,” he said.

Meanwhile, Patel pointed out that some goods could be rerouted from China to other markets, while certain constant sources of demand, such as weddings, would be delayed rather than disappearing completely. In addition, the midstream has started the year with relatively low inventories due to a reasonably strong fourth-quarter holiday season, putting it in a good position to weather the difficulties, he said.

“We’ve been through periods like this before in the industry,” the executive said. “This is, hopefully, a one-off impact, and the sooner the virus can be contained, and the sooner we can get back to the normal operation of those economies, the better.”

Source: Diamonds.net

De Beers Optimistic After 2019 Earnings Slump

Rough and polished diamonds next to each other at De Beers

De Beers gave a positive outlook for 2020 due to an improvement in the industry’s inventory situation, despite growing concerns about Chinese demand.

Early data from the holiday season indicate midstream stock levels are more balanced than they were, the company reported Thursday in parent company Anglo American’s annual financial results.

The miner maintained its production forecast of 32 million to 34 million carats for the year, citing a “currently anticipated improvement in trading conditions compared with 2019.”

Last year was the worst for De Beers in the past decade, as rough demand plummeted amid an oversupply of polished in the manufacturing and trading sector.

The miner reported that underlying earnings slid 87% to $45 million, while revenue fell 24% to $4.61 billion, its lowest level since the financial crisis.

Rough sales declined 26% to $4 billion, with volume down 8% to 30.9 million carats. De Beers’ average selling price slumped 20% to $137 per carat, reflecting a 6% decline in like-for-like rough prices, as well as weak demand for higher-value diamonds.

Sales from other divisions, which include the Element Six industrial-diamond unit and Lightbox, its lab-grown brand, fell 17% to approximately $570 million, according to Rapaport calculations.

Last year started on a weak note, as stock-market volatility and the US-China trade war led to sluggish 2018 holiday sales, leaving the trade with higher stock levels than it had expected, the company explained.

The situation worsened as US retailers took more goods on memo and pruned their physical-store networks, while consumers shifted further to online buying, reducing the need for inventory.

The midstream also suffered from tight bank financing, dampening demand for more rough, De Beers noted.

De Beers observed “stable” consumer demand so far in 2020, especially in the US, but cautioned that several uncertainties — including the coronavirus outbreak — could pose a threat.

An increase in online purchasing has caused retailers to destock, while US-China trade tensions and geopolitical escalations in the Middle East could also affect economic growth and consumer sentiment, the company added.

Source: Diamonds.net

De Beers Adds Grading Specs for Lightbox

Lightbox has added grading information for its synthetic white diamonds in an effort by the De Beers brand to bring further transparency to the lab-grown sector.

The company will provide technical specifications showing the minimum quality of its stones across cut, color, clarity and carat weight, Lightbox said Monday. It will include these descriptions with each white lab-grown diamond it sells, but will not grade each stone individually. The specifications are based on internationally recognized grading standards, the De Beers-owned company noted.

“This new feature is just one more way Lightbox can instill consumer confidence,” the company added.

An infographic with the information is also available on Lightbox’s website. Those specifications list its synthetic white diamonds to be “near colorless” or better, which the company defines as between G to J, meaning only a trained gemologist can detect a trace of color. The stones all have a minimum clarity of VS, and a cut of “very good.” The stones are still priced at $800 per carat.

Lightbox, which De Beers launched in 2018, does not currently intend to offer grading information for its blue or pink lab-grown diamonds.

Source: Diamonds.net

De Beers Scores Partial CVD Patent Victory

Synthetic colored diamonds at Element Six in Oxford UK De Beers

A court has awarded a limited victory to De Beers’ synthetic-diamond production unit in a patent dispute with Singapore-based grower IIa Technologies.

IIa infringed an Element Six patent related to diamond material that’s usable for lab-grown diamond jewelry and industrial applications, according to a High Court of Singapore judgment Friday. However, another Element Six patent for post-growth color treatment is invalid, judge Valerie Thean also ruled.

“We will continue to be vigilant for any other potential infringement of our [intellectual-property] rights around the globe,” Element Six CEO Walter Hühn said in a statement Friday. “We will defend our rights vigorously — just as any company would — because protecting our ability to get a full return on our investment in [research and development] is vital to our future.”

UK-based Element Six produces synthetic diamonds for De Beers’ lab-grown jewelry brand, Lightbox, and supplies diamond material for industrial and technological uses. The patent it successfully defended, SG 872, was relevant to optical applications such as infrared spectroscopy and high-power laser optics, as well as to the creation of stones for jewelry, De Beers explained.

IIa, which grows CVD goods for distributor and sister company Pure Grown Diamonds (PGD), must stop making, using, importing or maintaining possession of products that infringe patent SG 872, Thean ordered. She also called for the cancellation of Element Six’s patent SG 508, which relates to the annealing of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) diamonds.

“IIa Technologies has developed its proprietary process in the last 15 years, and is proud of the work we have done to bring lab-grown diamonds to the world,” Vishal Mehta, IIa’s CEO, said in a separate statement. “The current judgment will be considered in its entirety, and then the company will take necessary steps to protect its interests.”

The lawsuit, which Element Six filed in 2016, comes amid heightened patent-related legal activity in the synthetic-diamond sector. Last month, WD Lab Grown Diamonds sued six companies — including IIa and PGD — accusing them of infringing its patents for synthesis and treatment.

Source: Diamonds.net

De Beers Plans Overhaul of Supply Policy

De Beers plans to abandon its practice of using sightholders’ purchase history as the main factor in determining how it allocates rough supply, sources have told Rapaport News.

The move, which would go into effect from 2021, would see the miner shift to more subjective criteria for deciding the value of goods each client receives.

The current system, known as “demonstrated demand,” requires sightholders to buy the rough that De Beers has allotted them or risk losing access to De Beers’ diamonds in future. The method has faced criticism for encouraging dealers and manufacturers to take on unprofitable inventory.

But with the current sightholder agreement expiring at the end of this year, De Beers has told clients demonstrated demand will not be the main driver of allocations in the new contract period, the sources said. Discussions about the matter continued at this week’s January sight in Botswana.

The proposals include studying data about clients’ business activities, as well as qualitative factors, to help determine whether companies should be on the client list, a sightholder explained on condition of anonymity. De Beers is also considering reducing the number of sightholders, according to a Bloomberg report last week that Rapaport News could not corroborate.

“We will be communicating directly with customers in the coming months about the new sightholder contract period, which will focus on maximizing the considerable opportunities ahead in the diamond sector,” a De Beers spokesperson said. The company would not elaborate on the details.

The midstream’s accumulation of excess inventory contributed to a severe slowdown in the diamond market in 2019, with De Beers’ full-year sales falling 25% to $4.04 billion. Last July, Dutch bank ABN Amro wrote to its clients urging them to buy rough only when it’s profitable, and attacked the practice of making purchases purely to maintain supply allocations.

Sightholders are expecting this week’s De Beers sale — the first of the year — to be relatively large as the trade replenishes its stocks following a solid holiday season. De Beers raised prices in certain categories, sources said.

Soucre: Diamonds.net

De Beers Issues Synthetics Guidelines

De Beers has provided its rough-diamond clients and Forevermark partners with guidelines on how to operate in the lab-grown market if they wish to continue tapping into its branding.

The mining company, which in 2018 forayed into gem-quality synthetics with the launch of its Lightbox brand, is demanding businesses make full disclosure about their product, segregate synthetics from their natural supply, and do not make unproven claims about either category. The “Statement of Principles” outlines the legal structures companies with lab-grown diamond units must have if they wish to use the sightholder logo, as well as the procedures and training they are required to implement to avoid contamination or misleading marketing.

While De Beers already had rules mandating disclosure and other best practices, the new principles “ensure there is no room for doubt” about how clients may use the sightholder logo, explained David Johnson, head of strategic communications for De Beers. Some of the rules form part of De Beers’ contract with clients, allowing the miner to penalize those who flout them, while others are only recommendations.

“We believe the principles within the document set out a responsible approach, and that they are important for ensuring people can make clear and informed choices about what they are buying,” Johnson added.

The document refers to lab-grown diamonds as “artificial” products that “do not have the same inherent, naturally occurring characteristics or enduring value” as natural diamonds. The miner continues to define diamonds as a natural mineral in line with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

De Beers sent the guidelines to clients earlier this month, as numerous sightholders have launched lab-grown businesses under separate entities and trading names.
The following is a summary of the guidelines:

De Beers customers may only use the sightholder license — including displaying the sightholder logo — for business entities that are exclusively natural-diamond businesses. Entities with both natural and lab-grown activities may not use the logo.
The miner recommends setting up distinct and independent businesses for any lab-grown diamond activities, with separate systems, processes and workforces.
The rules prohibit “false, misleading or unsubstantiated” claims about the enduring value of lab-grown diamonds, whether directed at other businesses or at consumers. They cannot state or imply that lab-grown diamonds have the “identical inherent value characteristics” as natural diamonds.
Similarly, unproven claims about the environmental benefits or ethical advantage of lab-grown diamonds over natural ones are forbidden.
Sellers must provide the buyer with full and unambiguous disclosure before the transaction is complete.
They’re also required to ensure segregation at all stages of the supply process, such as storage, cutting and polishing, packaging, and transportation. Ideally, suppliers should handle natural and lab-grown stones in separate sites.
De Beers customers must “take steps” to ensure full disclosure and segregation further along the supply chain, down to the consumer.
Clients must have protocols to identify and mitigate contamination risks, and train staff members on the “operational, commercial and reputational impacts” of lab-grown diamonds.
Preferably, companies should disclose the countries in which the synthetic diamond was grown, polished and made into jewelry, as well as the identity of the grower. De Beers says businesses should “strive” to declare this, though it’s not an absolute requirement.
Grading language must contain words that make it clear a stone is lab-grown.
Customers must follow relevant laws, regulations and best practices, such as the standards that the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the ISO have published.

Source: Diamonds.net

De Beers final diamond sale of the year gives some hope to depressed market

Rough uncut diamonds. Image by De Beers.

Anglo American’s De Beers, the world’s No.1 diamond miner by value, said on Wednesday that its last roughs sale of the year fetched $425 million, a slight improvement from the $400 million it obtained in the previous tender, but still over the year a whopping $1.4 billion less than in 2018.

The figure is also 20% lower than the $544 million worth of diamonds the miner sold in December last year, and it has brought the company’s total sales for 2019 to only $4 billion.

DIAMOND GIANT SALES TOTALLED $4 BILLION THIS YEAR, A WHOPPING $1.4 BILLION LESS THAN IN 2018

The diamond giant sells its stones ten times a year in Botswana’s capital, Gaborone. The buyers, or “sightholders,” usually accept the price and the quantities offered, but in the past months they’ve been given more decision making power, with De Beers allowing them to refuse about 50% of the stones contained in the parcels.

The company has also curbed plans to expand diamond production over the next two years and reduced prices for low-quality stones as much as 10%, in yet another sign of increasing volatility at the bottom end of the market.

Cheaper diamonds, which are often small and low quality, have been selling for significantly less now than six years ago due to an unforeseen oversupply that has weighed on prices and producers’ bottom lines.

The situation, some key actors say, is about to change, as the first signs of stabilization in the sector are starting to appear.

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Pressure has been piled on the industry by a supply glut of rough diamonds and competition from lab grown stones, while unrest in Hong Kong and the US-China trade dispute have knocked demand. — *Source Bain & Company.*

“Following continued polished diamond price stability in the lead up to the final sales cycle of the year, we saw further signs of steady demand for rough diamonds during Sight 10,” De Beers chief executive officer, Bruce Cleaver, said in the statement.

His perception is shared by Russian competitor Alrosa (MCX:ALRS), which last week said it had “evidence” that prices for a variety of diamond products edged higher in October and November. The world’s top diamond producer by output also noted that prospects for de-stocking were “more visible.”

Industry consultant Bain & Co., however, believes that while the glut that’s depressing the diamond market will probably be cleared early next year, it will take at least another 12 months for the market to fully recover.

“The industry’s first and strongest opportunity to rebalance and regain growth will be 2021,” said Bain in a report, adding that supply could fall 8% that year.

Source: mining.com

De Beers boosted by jump in diamond sales

De Beers has surprised analysts by selling more diamonds than expected at its latest sale.

The world’s largest diamond producer, which is owned by Anglo American, sold $390m of rough stone this month, compared with $297m at its previous sale in October and above market expectations of around $300m.

“The company has attributed this rebound in sales to signs of increasing polished price stability leading to improving sentiment from rough diamond buyers,” said analysts at Citi.

However, the latest “sight” marks the first time De Beers has sold less than $400m of diamonds in November since 2016, illustrating the tough conditions in the diamond industry.

Diamond buyers, who polish and cut gems for retailers, have been struggling to make money this year as the price of finished stones has slumped. That has forced De Beers to offer more flexible terms to buyers, something that continued in November.

At the same time, the industry is facing competition from lab-grown diamonds, which are chemically identical to traditional stones.

“Global consumer demand for diamond jewellery 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,” said De Beers chief executive Bruce Cleaver in a statement

Citi expects rough diamond sales to fall 23 per cent to $4.3bn this year. De Beers is expected to generate around 10 per cent of Anglo’s earnings in 2019.

Source: FT.com

De Beers Lets Clients Delay Rough Purchases

De Beers loosened its purchasing requirements for rough buyers at last week’s sight in an effort to ease the oversupply affecting the diamond market.

Sightholders have struggled to reduce their inventories due to an imbalance of stocks and weak polished demand. To tackle the problem, De Beers allowed its customers to defer purchases from the July sight to other sales later this year, a spokesperson confirmed Thursday.

De Beers’ long-term sales program compels customers to show certain levels of demand at sights, which take place 10 times a year in Botswana. They are free to push off buying one box per “band” (selection of goods) per half year, but only from one sight to the next. However, at last week’s sale, sightholders were able to make an extra deferral, and could also delay to later in the year, not just by one sight.

In addition, the company has brought forward sightholders’ annual opportunity to reschedule their purchases, known as “re-phasing.” This year, that will occur after the July sight, the sixth of the year, whereas it’s normally scheduled for the eighth sight.

De Beers’ revenue and profit fell in the first half, as a buildup of excess polished goods in the midstream and retail sectors hit rough demand, the company explained last week in its half-year earnings. A price reduction at the June sight helped sightholders deal with the weak profitability they are facing, De Beers chief financial officer Nimesh Patel told Rapaport News Thursday.

The miner also lowered its production forecast to 31 million carats for this year, compared with an earlier outlook of 31 million to 33 million carats, Patel noted. Output in 2018 was 35.3 million carats.

Holding back rough

The combination of lower production and prices, together with increased purchasing flexibility, should tackle the “short-term” crisis, Patel predicted. The company also experienced a “meaningful increase” in its own rough inventories during the first half because it held back rough, he said.

“We’ve clearly reacted in terms of price, so we’ve injected profitability back into goods,” the executive said. “Secondly, we’ve reacted in terms of production…. Alongside that, we’re working with our customers to offer them more flexibility in the way they purchase, so [we’ve introduced] re-sequencing of the timing of their purchases of goods through the course of the year, which is something that we’ve allowed [them] to do, and we’ve added to that additional referrals as well. All those things will see us through this difficult period.”

The problems come from within the diamond industry rather than from outside: Growth in global gross domestic product supports consumer demand for diamond jewelry in the long term, Patel said. The US retail market is increasing, while sales in China and India are also rising in local currencies, he observed.

However, weak fourth-quarter holiday sales in 2018 and shaky consumer demand in the first half has made it difficult for the industry to offload polished stocks to retailers, Patel said. Consumers’ shift away from lower-end shopping malls has forced some companies to close stores and liquidate their goods, he added. Furthermore, retailers’ increased reliance on consignment has raised inventory risks for the midstream, as failure to make a final sale often forces suppliers to resend jewelry items to a different client, or to dismantle and remanufacture the jewelry, he explained.

“That doesn’t help the midstream in terms of sell-through,” he noted.

Yet the near future is positive because the issues are “specific to the balance of stocks in the midstream and the downstream,” Patel argued. “It’s a function of that excess polished as it sits today…just working its way through the system. As that happens, we should see polished prices perform better [and] rough demand return.”

Source: Diamonds.net

2H Slump Dents De Beers Sales Volume

De Beers’ sales volume fell 4% last year due to weakened demand for lower value diamonds in the second half.

The miner sold 33.7 million carats of rough, compared with 35.1 million carats in 2017, as clients bought fewer of its cheaper stones, it reported Thursday.

De Beers’ average price for sales excluding some sales by its joint-venture partners rose 6% to $171 per carat for the year, reflecting the larger proportion of higher-value goods. As a result, rough-sales value increased 2% to $5.39 billion for 2018, according to Rapaport estimates based on De Beers’ sight reports. The company’s average price index, which tracks its rough prices on a like-for-like basis, declined 1% in the second half, but ended 2018 up 1% versus the previous year.

Production grew 6% to 35.3 million carats, exceeding sales volume.

Sales jumped 21% to 9.9 million carats in the fourth quarter, with revenues also increasing, as the company allowed sightholders to defer purchases from the September sight to later months. Production grew 12% to 9.1 million carats for the quarter.

Source: Diamonds.net