Coronavirus: De Beers Sight 5 Nets $35m

(IDEX Online) - De Beers reportedly sold just $35m of rough diamonds at it May Sight, with demand decimated by coronavirus. The equivalent sale last year brought in $416m. The May figure for Sight 4 was disclosed to news website Bloomsberg by a well-placed source but has not been confirmed by De Beers.

It did not announce the figure, as would be normal practice.

The company is currently adopting a price-over-volume policy, like rival Alrosa.  The two companies together control just over half of worldwide diamond production.

Meanwhile De Beers is working hard to attract interest to Sight 5 next week (15 to 19 June) with additional viewings in Hong Kong, Antwerp and Dubai for those who can't get to Botswana because of travel restrictions

Sight 3, which should have taken place 30 March to 3 April, was canceled.

Pic courtesy De Beers