Diamonds are forever..forever.......Diamonds have not lost their sparkle
for the millennium.
The South African
diamond house, De
Beers, has announced its
biggest ever diamond
sales in 1999, showing
an increase of almost 60% on sales
in 1998.
De Beers says its
diamond sales this
year amounted to
$5.25bn, up $1bn
from the previous
record.
A spokeswoman
for De Beers
attributed the
huge increase in
gem sales to the
attraction of
diamonds as a
millennium gift.
Boost for company
The record sales are a welcome boost
to De Beers, which was rocked by the
Asian crisis in 1998, and the
company's shares surged on the
Johannesburg stock market.
Japan, once the
biggest buyer, has
been replaced by
the United States,
which is
responsible for
almost half of all
De Beers' diamond sales over the
past year. The booming US stock
market has boosted sales, especially
over the key Thanksgiving to
Christmas period.
A spokeswoman for the diamond
house said that an aggressive
marketing campaign promoting
diamonds as 'the gift for the
millennium' had helped sales this
year - and interest was expected to
continue into the year 2000.
She said that De
Beers had
deliberately held
back on its
diamond supply
after the slump in
sales in 1998, in
an attempt to
revitalise the
market. That
strategy appears
to have been successful.
De Beers spends $170m a year
advertising diamonds.
Glut on the market
Despite the heavy sales there is still
a worldwide glut in diamonds and
mine production has not increased as
a result of the renewed interest in
the gem.
"We have been fairly prudent .. we
could have sold more because there
is still unrequited demand in the
cutting centres," De Beers managing
director Gary Ralfe said.
Diamond houses like De Beers hope
that by regulating supplies of the
market, they can reduce stockpiles
and preserve the diamond's position
as one of the most sought after gems
in history.
De Beers alone controls 75% of the
world's diamond supply.
It has deals with countries like
Angola and Russia to ensure that
they do not sell their gems
independently on the market.
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WORLD NEWS SUMMARY
See also:
02 Dec 99 | Business
Diamond market
finds its sparkle
04 Nov 98 | The Company
File
Russia's diamond
deal
07 Dec 99 | From Our Own
Correspondent
Cleaning up the
diamond badlands
06 Oct 99 | Africa
UK welcomes
Angola diamond
ban
Internet links:
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