Anglo sees continued soft demand for De Beers diamonds

FTSE 100 mining group Anglo American has announced another large fall in diamond revenues from the latest sales cycle at subsidiary De Beers, saying that buyers were being "prudent" because of the macro environment.

The company said its seventh sales cycle of 2023, between 14 and 29 August, generated just $370m in sales.

That's down from $411m and $456m in cycle six and five, respectively, and a big drop from $638m in the seventh cycle of 2022.

Al Cook, the chief executive of De Beers, said: "With the prevailing economic environment leading to softer end client demand for diamond jewellery in key consumer markets, and the traditionally lower levels of midstream trading during the summer period, Sightholders [authorized bulk purchasers of rough diamonds] continued to take a prudent approach to their purchasing during the seventh sales cycle of the year."

De Beers operates diamond mines across Botswana, Canada, Namibia and South Africa, and sells 90% of its stones by value through Sightholder sales. The sales events, known as Sights, are held 10 times a year.

The other 10% of its diamonds are sold via auctions.