Sight box (PIC By De Beers)

De Beers, the global diamond mining giants said its sales fell at its fourth sight of the year blaming the dip on the seasonality of the industry. The Anglo American diamond unit said the value of rough diamond sales (Global Sightholder Sales and Auction Sales) for the fourth sales cycle of 2016 stood at $630 million.

This is the first decline since the beginning of the year following 3 successful  Sights as the diamond major alluded to improvements in diamond demand at the beginning of the year.

“As normal seasonal trends return to the market, we are encouraged by the continued stability of demand for rough diamonds shown in the fourth sales cycle of 2016,” Philippe Mellier, Chief Executive, De Beers Group, said.

De Beers Cycle 3 of 2016 that took place in February had generated $660 million as opposed to $617 million in February, which showed a steady growth.

De Beers stated that the continued stability in polished diamond prices and sales of polished diamonds at the wholesale level supported a reasonably positive environment for rough diamond demand for the third consecutive sales cycle.

Cycle 4 2016 provisional sales value represents sales as at 23 May 2016.