De Beers has seen its rough diamond sales rise to $580m (£465m) in its third sales cycle of the year.
The mining group’s sales grew 5% from the revised figure of $553m (£443m) in the second cycle, but was 13% lower than last year’s March sale.
According to Rapaport, De Beers has had $1.86bn (£1.49bn) in sales this year which is a 2% increase in comparison with last year. The growth was due to a 34% rise in January sales, which amounted to $729m (£584m).
Bruce Cleaver, De Beers CEO, said: “We saw the continuation of good rough-diamond demand in cycle three across the product range. This reflected positive sentiment from our customers following the Hong Kong International Jewellery Show in March.”
De Beers holds 10 rough sales per year, with each sales figure including the previous week’s sight as well as other sales in the cycle. The next rough sale will take place from 8-12 May.
[Source:- jewelleryfocus]