Anglo American sees diamond sales slip in latest De Beers cycle

Anglo American announced the value of rough diamond sales, from both global sightholder sales and auction sales, for De Beers' ninth sales cycle of 2018 on Tuesday, amounting to $440m.

The FTSE 100 company said that was a fall from the $482m seen in the eighth sales cycle of the year, and the $466m total sales value reported from the ninth sales cycle of 2017.

“As the industry's focus turns towards the key end of year retail selling season, rough diamond sales continued to be in line with expectation during the ninth cycle of the year,” said De Beers Group chief executive officer Bruce Cleaver.

“While demand for smaller, lower quality rough diamonds continues to see some challenges, the latest cycle saw some signs of improvement in this area as factories in India begin to reopen after Diwali.”