The world’s biggest diamond producer, De Beers, owned by Anglo American, sold $720 million of diamonds in its first sale of the year. This is compared to $545 million for January 2016’s sale.
Bruce Cleaver (pictured), De Beers CEO, said:
"We saw good demand across the majority of our assortment during the first sales cycle of the year, as the industry entered the period when rough diamond demand is traditionally strongest. The longer period between the final Sight of 2016 and the first Sight of 2017 also contributed to heightened demand during the cycle."
Cleaver added that while the reopening of some diamond polishing operations in India saw an increase in demand for smaller, lower quality rough diamonds, De Beers will maintain a cautious outlook for these categories as "the Indian industry continues to adjust to the post-demonetisation environment".
