Diamond sales at Botswana’s Debswana fall 49.2% as market downturn continues
By Brian Benza
GABORONE, Aug 1 (Reuters) -Sales of rough diamonds at Debswana Diamond Company fell 49.2% in the first half of 2024, according to data released by the Botswana central bank late on Wednesday, as the downturn in the global diamond market continued.
Debswana, equally owned by the government of Botswana and Anglo American Plc's AAL.L De Beers, sells 75% of its output to De Beers with the balance taken up by state-owned Okavango Diamond Company (ODC).
Botswana and De Beers in June last year agreed a new ten-year diamond sales deal, which will see ODC's share of Debswana output rise to 30% before gaining gradually to 50% by the end of the new contract, as the country seeks to get more revenues from its resources.
In the first half of the year, Debswana sold diamonds worth $1.29 billion compared to $2.54 billion registered in the same period last year, Bank of Botswana data showed. In local currency terms, the Debswana sales fell 47.3% to 17.555 billion pula.
Anglo, which plans to divest from De Beers as part of an organisational shake up, cut diamond production by 19% during the first six months of the year. It reported last week that output guidance at De Beers was revised down to 23-26 million carats from 26-29 million in response to the diamond market's ongoing downturn.
Botswana gets 30%-40% of its revenue, 75% of its foreign exchange earnings and a third of national output from diamonds.
($1 = 13.5685 pulas)
Reporting by Brian Benza, Editing by Bhargav Acharya and Miral Fahmy
Related Assets
Latest News
Disclaimer: The XM Group entities provide execution-only service and access to our Online Trading Facility, permitting a person to view and/or use the content available on or via the website, is not intended to change or expand on this, nor does it change or expand on this. Such access and use are always subject to: (i) Terms and Conditions; (ii) Risk Warnings; and (iii) Full Disclaimer. Such content is therefore provided as no more than general information. Particularly, please be aware that the contents of our Online Trading Facility are neither a solicitation, nor an offer to enter any transactions on the financial markets. Trading on any financial market involves a significant level of risk to your capital.
All material published on our Online Trading Facility is intended for educational/informational purposes only, and does not contain – nor should it be considered as containing – financial, investment tax or trading advice and recommendations; or a record of our trading prices; or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instruments; or unsolicited financial promotions to you.
Any third-party content, as well as content prepared by XM, such as: opinions, news, research, analyses, prices and other information or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an “as-is” basis, as general market commentary, and do not constitute investment advice. To the extent that any content is construed as investment research, you must note and accept that the content was not intended to and has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such, it would be considered as marketing communication under the relevant laws and regulations. Please ensure that you have read and understood our Notification on Non-Independent Investment. Research and Risk Warning concerning the foregoing information, which can be accessed here.
