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De Beers Group, the world’s largest diamond mining company, has announced the results of its first sales cycle for the year, noting a sharp decline in sales.
De Beers sold $US450 million in rough diamonds for the period of 16-31 January, a decline of 32 per cent compared with the opening cycle of 2022.
CEO Bruce Cleaver said in a statement that it was an outcome that was expected.
“Consumer demand for diamond jewellery over the 2022 end-of-year holiday season performed well. As expected, given the macroeconomic outlook at the time, sightholders took a cautious approach in late 2022 in planning their 2023 allocation schedule, with a greater weighting of goods to be purchased as the year progresses,” he explained.
“While there is still some uncertainty over the macroeconomic environment, we see cautious optimism for demand to increase as China continues to reopen and inflation rates start to decrease in many major economies.”
De Beers recently extended its exclusive contracts for an additional year in order to accommodate sightholders during economic uncertainty.
The company completes 10 sales cycles each year. The second of 2023 is scheduled to run from 20-24 February. De Beers is expected to release its full financial results for 2022 on 23 February.
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