According to current estimates, sales of diamond jewelry decreased by 2 percent in 2019. Rough diamond sales could have dropped as much as 25 percent.
Are people falling out of love with diamonds?
The global diamond business is losing momentum, according to the industry report “The Global Diamond Industry 2019”, which the consulting firm Bain & Company publishes together with the Antwerp World Diamond Center (AWDC). However, after the industry has recently shown recovery from its long stagnation phase, demand for diamonds declined again in the first three quarters of 2019, the report said.
According to the study, in 2019, there had been a 2% decline in worldwide sales of diamond jewelry. Rough diamond sales could even have dropped by up to 25 percent.
The markets in the USA and China are particularly important in this context. These are of great importance for the diamond industry and both the USA (- 2%) and China (-5%) are said to have declined. The report cites the 15 percent additional duty levied on Chinese jewelry in September 2019 as one possible reason for the decline in sales in the United States.
Mine operators cut production
According to the report, the mine operators have mined a record number of rough diamonds in anticipation of a boom in 2017:
- They corrected this rate in 2018 and cut back mining by 3 percent.
For 2019, Bain currently estimates that the volume of unprocessed stones has dropped again by 4 percent. - Turnover of processors who cut, grind and polish rough diamonds is likely to have dropped by 10 to 15 percent in 2019, according to Bain.
Signs point to relaxation
According to Bain, the current problems are likely to continue to weigh on the industry in 2020, but the consulting firm expects an upward trend in the long term.
According to Merkel, one reason for the upward trend is that the industry players have increased their advertising budgets significantly. According to this, the mining companies are said to have spent the record amount of around $ 200 million on campaigns in 2019.
