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Rapaport reported that De Beers saw one of its smallest contract sales ever in November when last week’s sight closed with an estimated value of $70 million. The company has kept prices stable and “enabled extra flexibility” due to low demand.
Rapaport reported that De Beers saw one of its smallest contract sales ever in November when last week’s sight closed with an estimated value of $70 million. The company has kept prices stable and “enabled extra flexibility” due to low demand.
As quoted in the market news:
“It was a small sight as we expected because of the Diwali holidays,” said David Johnson, head of midstream communications for De Beers. “We recognize that there are challenges in the industry and that we’re still in a destocking period. So our focus was to be flexible to meet sightholder needs.”
Among the measures taken, sightholders could defer their entire November allocations to December, or bring their December supply forward. They could also reject 20 percent of their box instead of the usual 10 percent so–called “buybacks.” In addition, sightholders could apply for goods that were not in their initial intensions to offer (ITOs), a mechanism referred to as “ITO swaps.”
Most took the deferral option and many didn’t attend the sight which one Israeli sightholder referred to as a non-event. An Antwerp-based Indian manufacturer noted that businesses were already closing for Diwali so there was no real point in spending three-to-four days in Gaborone.