De Beers Diamond Expectations for Christmas 2009

De Beers, the diamond industry giant, has been quite optimistic about this year's diamond sales during the Christmas holiday season, expecting a much more profitable year than 2008. According to Gareth Penny, the Managing Director of De Beers, the rough stocks have gone down by nearly thirty percent from those of 2008. De Beers, which is partially owned by the diamond mining company Anglo American PLC, lowered its level of diamond production in Quarter 1 by ninety percent from the final months of 2008 and as much as ninety-one percent when compared with the full year. Nonetheless, the diamond company, controlling forty-one percent of the rough diamond market has raised its production levels in Quarter 2 alongside the reactivation of the Debswana diamond mines, the mines that were responsible for more than sixty-five percent of the company's output in 2008. As per Gareth Penny, diamond mining in the Debswana mines of Botswana is currently almost up to eighty percent of its full aptitude.

Though the demand for diamonds has dropped (polished diamonds by thirty percent; rough diamonds by sixty percent) from the mid-high points of 2008, De Beers claims that this year the demand for diamond jewelry is much better (only ten to fifteen percent down) and that there has even been an incline in the demand from China. In fact, the prices for polished diamonds reached a stable point in the spring so according to De Beers, diamond retailers probably sold the majority of their excess stock by the first half of the year.

As the stock market is on the rise and United States economy is showing signs of recovery, it is only natural to expect a better Christmas this year. Diamond dealers are most anxious to know how this will affect the prices of diamonds and diamond jewelry – will De Beers be raising their prices? The difference in price between rough diamonds and polished diamonds is absolutely critical for diamond dealers. In comparison with the mid-high points of 2008, the price of rough diamonds was down by between thirty and seventy percent, a great deal lower than the twenty to thirty percent downturn of the price of cut diamonds. Gareth Penny has indicated that De Beers will be cautious about any changes in pricing, yet he also proceeded to add that it is necessary for their diamond prices to be brought into line with the state of the diamond market.

Much like the creation of the original De Beers diamond Christmas star in 1994, this Christmas De Beers plans to come out on top at the last minute. For those that are unfamiliar with the De Beers Christmas star fiasco, in 1992 the diamond conglomerate hired Fancoldi to create an enormous diamond Christmas star to top the De Beers Christmas tree. The excitement around the topping of the De Beers tree with a massive diamond in the shape of a star caused the diamond conglomerate to book a live news conference to grace the world with the unveiling of the magnificent Christmas tree. It was expected to be a big media event, which is why it was quite dramatic when the completion of the diamond star nearly missed the deadline. Since De Beers wanted to have the largest diamond star in the world, they asked for the star to be approximately twenty carats. However, as the months passed on, Fancoldi was finding it increasingly difficult to find a fitting rough diamond. In the end, De Beers provided Fancoldi with an enormous rough diamond of over forty carats, leaving the diamond cutters only about a month to complete the diamond star. Despite the incredibly demanding time constraints, the job had to be positively flawless. In the end, the deadline was met and the De Beers diamond Christmas star was magnificent, but it was a close call. We will soon see just how profitable the Christmas of 2009 is going to be for De Beers and whether it will meet the diamond company's expectations in the nick of time, much like the De Beers diamond Christmas star.