De Beers, the diamond mining colossus, has rolled out a drastic price cut and slashed the number of diamond buyers that receive its product. De Beers has strenuously avoided official price cuts because of the impact that such things have on diamond market sentiment, instead opting to sell discounted stones in secret sales. Well, the cut brings De Beers’ prices in line with the secondary market, over which De Beers had routinely claimed a five percent to 50 percent premium. Perhaps more interesting is that De Beers is cutting down on the number of customers it sells to; previously, De Beers moved most of its diamonds to a group of about 70 sightholders, but has trimmed that down to 45 to 50 buyers.
Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.com, and Thomas Biesheuvel, Bloomberg
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