Anglo American sees De Beers sales slide in sixth cycle of 2019

Anglo American announced the value of rough diamond sales for the sixth sales cycle of the year from its De Beers operations on Tuesday, with the provisional figure amounting to $250m (£205.39m).

The FTSE 100 company said that compared to a total figure of $391m in the fifth cycle of 2019, and $533m in the sixth cycle of 2018, a year earlier.

“With ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty, retailers managing inventory levels, and polished diamond inventories in the midstream continuing to be higher than normal, De Beers Group provided customers with additional flexibility to defer some of their rough diamond allocations to later in the year,” said De Beers Group chief executive officer Bruce Cleaver.

“As a result, we saw a reduction in sales during the sixth cycle of 2019.”