Anglo American Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Bruce Cleaver, says as the diamond industry heads into the slower second quarter of the year, the diamond businesses are adopting a more cautious approach.
Commenting on De Beers’ rough diamond sales for the for the third cycle of 2022, Cleaver said the cautious approach is being taken in light of the war in Ukraine and associated sanctions, as well as COVID-19 lockdowns in China.
During the third cycle, De Beers’ US$563 million, a drop from US$652 million registered in the second cycle of the year.
Owing to the restrictions on the movement of people and products in various jurisdictions around the globe, De Beers Group has continued to implement a more flexible approach to rough diamond sales during the third sales cycle of 2022, with the Sight event extended beyond its normal week-long duration.
As a result, the diamond group says the provisional rough diamond sales figure quoted for cycle three represents the expected sales value for the period 28 March to 12 April and remains subject to adjustment based on final completed sales.
“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 rough diamonds remained strong in the third sales cycle of 2022,” said Cleaver.
Compared with the same cycle last year, there was improvement this time around as the group had registered US$450 million then.