Bloomberg Survey: DB Diamond Sales Top $5.82 billion

De Beers rough diamond sales rose 5.4 percent to $5.82 billion in 2004, says financial news service Bloomberg, based on a survey of eight analysts. The range of estimates ran from $5.5 billion to $6.14 billion.

Bloomberg mostly credits the increase to growing jewelry demand in the U.S. and Asia, and only to a lesser degree to rising rough diamond prices.

If De Beers' sales did rise 5.4 percent, they lagged behind the luxury-goods industry which, according to Goldman Sachs' estimates, grew 10 percent in 2004.

In September, De Beers estimated that diamond production rose 2.7 percent to 45.2 million carats, mostly mined in Botswana which produced a record 30.9 million carats last year.

IDEX Online readers, discussing DTC 2004 sales in the News Forum, are estimating sales at $5.8 billion to $6.07. Join the forum by clicking Comment on this Article below.