De Beers — the OG powerhouse of the diamond world — has been making hush-hush moves to unload its stockpile of rough diamonds… but only for a chosen few. 👀🔥
Here’s what’s going down:
💰 De Beers is secretly selling hundreds of millions in rough diamonds at 10–20% off — way below their official prices
🤐 Only a small group of lucky traders are getting access
😡 Other buyers are furious — they’re still expected to pay full price at regular sales in Botswana
This shady discounting is a big deal because:
🔻 De Beers never openly cuts prices — it would tank the entire market
😤 Now there’s a massive price gap between their "official rate" and what people actually think diamonds are worth
💼 Parent company Anglo American is pressuring De Beers to boost sales fast before offloading the business in a major turnaround plan
🧯 The goal? Dump inventory without triggering panic across the market
And it’s not just about dollars. It’s about trust.
📉 Many longtime clients (called “sightholders”) say the secret deals are destroying confidence:
- They don’t know who is getting special treatment
- They risk getting undercut when reselling to retailers
- They’re scared to skip purchases for fear of losing supply access
Meanwhile…
🧪 De Beers just shut down its Lightbox lab-grown diamond unit
🚪 They're slashing costs and cutting back
⚠️ They even warned clients that fewer of them will be invited back in 2026
🛑 But wait, there’s more:
🌎 The US — biggest diamond market on Earth — slapped a 10% tariff on all diamond imports
⏳ And that tariff might go higher once a 90-day pause ends
💣 Traders are flooding the US market to beat the deadline, but demand is slowing as prices collapse
Bottom line?
De Beers is stuck in survival mode, using secret deals to move inventory… but at what cost to the industry’s credibility?
🤷♀️ Can the diamond king stay shiny under pressure — or is the sparkle starting to fade?