De Beers CFO Anticipates Stable Diamond Demand in 2015

Warren Dick, editor of Mineweb, posted an interview with Gareth Mostyn, CFO of De Beers. In the interview, Mostyn states that despite the current weak diamond market, De Beers sees demand for its diamonds remaining stable in 2015.
Mostyn said:

Look in the relatively short term, Warren, things are tough, they’re tough for us and they’re tough for our customers, but I wouldn’t exaggerate the level of difficulty out there. In the final consumer markets, we’re forecasting that demand this year for polished diamonds will be stable roughly in line with where it was in 2014. So not the level of growth that we’ve seen in recent years but still a pretty stable market for the final product. What has happened is that because the growth has slowed versus where it has been before and where people had expected together with some of those pressures that I mentioned, US dollar strength being one of them, that’s really impacted upon the midstream, our customers, the cutters and polishers. So it’s a really challenging time for them and we’re working very closely with them to try and give more flexibility to our customers to help them and us get through this tough time. So it clearly is challenging, but Warren, wouldn’t overstate the crisis, you know, we think that the market for the end product remains stable and after a very strong last year, actually that’s a pretty good performance.

Click here to read the full Mineweb interview. It is also available in audio form.