Chinese New Year and Valentine s Day drive pick up in diamond demand, say De Beers Saleha Riaz
Diamond miner De Beers said demand for rough diamonds in its first sales cycle of 2021 was strong, which was up by $99m ($72.5m) year-on-year, in part thanks to two upcoming occasions: Chinese New Year on 12 February and Valentine’s Day two days later.
Bruce Cleaver, De Beers Group CEO, said: Following strong sales of diamond jewellery over the key holiday season in the US, we saw good demand for rough diamonds at the first cycle of the year.”
“Sales of rough diamonds are also being supported by expected demand ahead of Chinese New Year and Valentine s Day,” he added.
De Beers Hits Three-Year High: Sight 1 Nets $650m February 03, 21 by John Jeffay
(IDEX Online) - De Beers today reported $650m of rough sales at its first sight of 2021 - the highest figure for three years.
It reflects a need for the midstream to restock, coupled with a more flexible approach by the miner a
nd a sight that was extended beyond its normal week because of ongoing travel restrictions.
The provisional $650m figure is the highest since January 2018, when actual sales for sight 1 totaled $672m.
De Beers recorded zero sales in sight 3 last year, as the global pandemic hit. It staged a recovery and during sights 8, 9 and 10 of 2020 sales reached a plateau of approximately $450m to $470m.
De Beers’ diamond sales beat pre-covid levels
Diamond sales show steady recovery in the market. (
De Beers, the world’s largest diamond producer by value, said on Wednesday sales in the first cycle of 2021 were 44% higher than in the previous one, evidence that a long-awaited recovery in the diamond market is here.
The Anglo American unit, which sells diamonds to a handpicked group of about 80 buyers 10 times a year at events called “sights,” sold $650 million worth of rough diamonds. That compares to the $551 million it fetched in the same period last year when the covid-19 pandemic hadn’t yet hit an already weakened market.
Last modified on Thu 4 Feb 2021 00.10 EST
De Beers has revealed its strongest diamond sales in three years following a Christmas surge in jewellery purchases, with sales 10% above the group’s 20-year average.
The world’s biggest diamond miner made $650m from its rough stones last month, well above sales of $551m in early 2020, amounting to the highest sales since January 2018.
Sales were propelled thanks to a busy Christmas season for jewellery buying in the US, and the company hopes for a diamond rush over the Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day.
Bruce Cleaver, chief executive at De Beers Group, said midstream diamond buyers - who transform the rough stones into polished diamonds - had begun to restock so were prepared to fulfil new orders from retailers.
Diamond industry regains its lustre after a dismal year
Consumers are starting to buy diamonds again as shops re-open
10 January 2021 • 2:00pm
For the more than 650,000 diamond polishers in the western Indian city of Surat, November is normally a quiet month.
They typically join others in the commercial hub, which processes four fifths of the world’s rough diamonds, in taking a break for Diwali, the five-day festival of lights.
November’s celebrations were somewhat different, however. Surat diamond polishers cut their holiday short to make up for work lost during the pandemic, when lockdowns sent diamond demand and production into a tailspin.