Anglo American says De Beers sales fall amid coronavirus impact

Anglo American announced the value of rough diamond sales for De Beers' second sales cycle of 2020 on Wednesday, amounting to a provisional value of $355m (£277.51m).

The FTSE 100 company said that compared to an actual figure of $551m in the first cycle of 2020, and of $496m in the second cycle of 2019.

“Following an improvement in demand for rough diamonds during the first sales cycle of 2020, we recognised the impact of Covid-19 coronavirus on customers focused on supplying the Chinese market and put in place additional targeted flexibility to enable customers to defer allocations of the relevant rough diamonds,” said De Beers Group chief executive officer Bruce Cleaver.

At 0840 GMT, shares in Anglo American were up 2.83% at 1,956.8p.