De Beers’ $370M Sight Reflects Slow Rough Market

De Beers Diamonds

De Beers’ October sight closed with a value of $370 million as rough-diamond buying slowed due to holidays and sightholders reported a sluggish dealer market.

Proceeds from the miner’s eighth sales cycle fell 27% from $507 million in the previous sight in August, and dropped 25% compared with the equivalent period a year ago, according to Rapaport records. Rough prices were largely unchanged from the previous sight, sightholders noted, with many dealers on the secondary market struggling to make a profit on the goods or even cover costs.

De Beers offered fewer rough diamonds for sale during the month as last week’s sight occurred during a period when polishing factories in India and Israel were closed for religious holidays, the company’s CEO Bruce Cleaver explained Tuesday.

“Sales were in line with expectations, at what is a seasonally slower time for rough-diamond demand,” Cleaver added.

The Indian cutting industry is preparing to close for Diwali, which occurs this Thursday. Buyers brought rough purchases forward to the July sales cycle because of the relatively early date of the festival this year, De Beers noted at previous sights. The last two sights have both been significantly smaller than a year ago as a result.

Sightholders were optimistic about the end-of-year holiday season, even as De Beers’ rough sales have declined 7% to $4.38 billion for the year to date, Rapaport records show. Russian miner Alrosa echoed this positive outlook, also noting that the timing of Diwali had weakened sales in September.

“We expect the traditional revival of the market situation in the fourth quarter, as the industry starts to prepare for the winter holiday season,” Alrosa vice president Yury Okoyomov said last week.

Source: diamonds.net

Rapaport to Auction Historic Sierra Leone 709ct. Peace Diamond

709 carat rough diamond

Rapaport Group has been appointed as the marketing and sales agent of the Peace Diamond by The Government of Sierra Leone.

The 709 carat Rough Diamond was recovered by diamond diggers in the village of Koryardu in Sierra Leone West Africa.

50% of the Peace Diamond sale value will directly go to benefit the community where the diamond was discovered, and the people of Sierra Leone.

 

De Beers Raises Marketing Budget to USD $140M

De Beers Dimaonds Stores

De Beers marketing spend this years is more than $140 million, This is the biggest De Beers push in a decade.

The marketing will focus on increasing consumer demand for diamond jewellery in US, China and Indian markets.

The De Beers brands, Forevermark and De Beers Diamond Jewellers. Will receive the most funding, But Debeers will also increase its contributions to the Diamond Producers Association and India’s Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council.

Stephen Lussier, De Beers’ executive vice president of marketing and CEO of Forevermark. Said the consumer expenditure for diamond jewellery over the past five years collectively has been the highest on record. and this made the outlook positive.

If I buy a certified diamond, how do I know that the diamond in my ring is the one described on the diamond certificate or diamond grading report?

There are a number of ways to verify that your diamond matches the diamond certificate it is purchased with. If you purchased a diamond that is laser inscribed, ask your jeweller to show you the laser inscription under magnification. This way, you will always be able to identify the diamond as your own.

DCLA also performs a verification service, for both DCLA certified diamonds and for diamonds certified by other internationally recognised laboratories. Bring  or send your diamond, together with the diamond grading certificate, to the DCLA laboratory and the diamond will be conclusively matched against the certificate. DCLA can then cold laser inscribe the diamond with either the diamond grading certificate number, or with a personalised message.

How do I know that my diamond certificate or diamond grading report is from an independent laboratory ?

Ask the jeweller if the diamond certificate comes from an independent diamond laboratory or if it produced by a diamond merchant or retailer, then do your research. Make sure the certificate is issued by the DCLA or another highly respected diamond grading laboratory; DCLA is the only diamond grading laboratory worldwide to offer a full-replacement Diamond Grading Guarantee.

De Beers taps into polished diamonds market with first-time auction

DTC De Beers

Anglo American’s De Beers, the world’s largest rough diamond producer by value, has decided to begin selling its own polished diamonds in auctions for the first time in its history.

The pilot auction, scheduled for June, will include a wide range of polished stones manufactured directly from the company’s own rough diamonds.

"The pilot auction, scheduled for June 29, will include a wide range of polished stones manufactured directly from De Beer’s own rough diamonds." All the polished rocks will carry grading reports from both the International Institute of Diamond Grading & Research (IIDGR) — De Beers’ in-house grading unit — and the Gemological Institute of America (GIA).

“We are interested in testing the level of demand from polished buyers for diamonds that have a clear and attractive source of origin, and that offer the assurance of product integrity that dual certification provides,” Neil Ventura, the miner’s executive vice president of auction sales, said in the statement.

If successful, the process would provide De Beers with more insight into the polished market, while also helping consumers fill gaps in supply or inventory if they were unable to find goods at the company’s rough auctions, he added.

All registered De Beers auction buyers will be eligible to bid in the first sale, which takes place on June 29.

Source: Mining.com

Blue Moon Diamond

The Blue Moon Diamond has been sold for a record US$48.26m at Sotheby’s in Geneva.

The sale price is a record per carat and for total value for any gemstone.

Blue Moon Diamond has no inclusions and has been officially declared flawless.

The 29.62-carat diamond was found at the Cullinan Mine in South Africa in January last year, blue diamonds make up only 0.1% of diamonds unearthed at the mine.

It was then cut and polished in New York, a process which took six months and eventually produced the 12.03 carat vivid blue gem.

De Beers cuts rough diamond prices and sight

De Beers which produces thirty percent of world rough diamonds has cut prices by 10 percent for the sight.

This comes after two reductions in its annual production output by 15 percent failed to slow slump in prices of rough.

Rough diamond prices have dropped 14 percent in some categories and are in their fifth consecutive quarterly loss, which is the longest in a decade.

De Beers cut the size of the sight to $250 million and reduced the prices by 9 percent, according to sight holders.  

De Beers has also contributed tens of millions to a jewellery advertising campaign. Its advertising campaign will promote diamond jewellery in the U.S. and to Chinese consumers.

De Beers sightholders refuse boxes Update

De Beers’s sightholders.

De Beers’s the world’s largest rough producer felt the pain, when only $300 million of the $450 million estimated sight was taken up by their sightholders. This leaves 30 percent of the rough on offer  on the table.

Anglo has previously counted on diamond revenues to offset a collapse in the price of other metals and minerals it mines. Anglo may cut the company’s dividend for the first time since 2009 according to analysts.

This is an indication of turmoil in the $80 billion diamond industry as traders, cutters and polishers suffer from a poor liquidity and weaker demand for jewellery.

Producers in India, where 90 percent of rough diamonds are cut and polished, may halt imports over the supply glut.

Update: Report sightholders may have refused 35%-50% at July sight which may be as low as $200M.