The price increases are reported by middlemen in Africa. It is the largest increase in years.
Last year, the group also implemented significant increases in its wholesale prices, but that mainly concerned the cheaper variants. De Beers now sees sufficient spending scope among consumers to also increase the price of the more expensive diamonds with higher premiums. It is up to the jewelers whether they want to pass those prices on to consumers.
They currently invest even less money in travel and restaurants and buy dimmables. Their supply is limited due to problems with extraction, especially in Africa.
cover
In a major sales run this week in Botswana, De Beers raised the wholesale price of some smaller rough diamonds, sometimes as high as 20% year on year, according to Bloomberg.
That’s a cover. The smaller diamonds, used in cheaper jewelry that are often sold online via web shops, had to contend with an oversupply for years. At the end of last year, that turned into scarcity.
De Beers does not respond to questions about its prices. In December, CEO Bruce Cleaver said he expected an increase in sales in 2022. There is an upward trend: in 2021 the group sold more than in 2019, leaving the drama year 2020 behind in turnover. Cleaver pointed to growing consumer demand in his outlook late last year.