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De Beers leaves rough prices unchanged at the first cycle of the year

De Beers left rough prices unchanged at the first cycle of the year after December’s sharp reductions. It allowed 20% buybacks for all goods — a mechanism that lets sightholders sell the least profitable stones back to the company. Demand was weak, with sales value expected to be low.

Published

1 year ago

January 29, 2025

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But the question on sightholders’ lips was what would happen next. One of the main reasons for the low sales was De Beers’ high prices. The miner’s rough remains significantly more expensive than the tender and auction market.

The company’s December price change of 10% to 15% went only part of the way toward closing this gap. Russian rival Alrosa has now reached similar price levels: It followed a December cut of around 10% with a further one of 7% to 8% in January, market insiders said.

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Polished Prices Up, Rough Prices See Decline: AWDC

While The Ecosystem Has Yet To Achieve A Full-Scale Rebound, The Current Data Suggests We Are Moving Toward A Stabilized Growth Posture

Published

7 hours ago

April 28, 2026

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The Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) has released its Q1 2026 fiscal retrospective, highlighting a significant divergence in asset class performance. While we are seeing a robust 11.6% YoY tailwind in international polished price points, the rough segment continues to face downward pricing pressure, currently de-escalating to a $72/carat baseline (a 27% delta from the previous $99/carat benchmark).

Polished/Rough Arbitrage: The current landscape reflects a bifurcated recovery. We are observing a “gradual recovery” trajectory where polished premiums are scaling, even as rough demand remains in a corrective phase.
Yield-Driven Projections: Per AWDC insights, rough valuations are fundamentally leveraged against expected polished yields. Consequently, the current polished price appreciation serves as a leading indicator for potential downstream rough price stabilization.
Volume vs. Value Scalability: * Volume Throughput: Increased by ~20% YoY.
- Value Capture: Realized a more modest 3.7% uptick.
- Operational Velocity: Rough import volumes have surged by 35.7%, signaling high-intensity inventory movement despite the lower price-per-unit environment.

Market Trajectory & Forward Outlook

Following a period of non-linear volatility—characterized by a summer pivot, a transient dip, and a Q4 resurgence—the Antwerp sector is currently navigating a “cautious turnaround” phase.

While the ecosystem has yet to achieve a full-scale rebound, the current data suggests we are moving toward a stabilized growth posture. AWDC will continue to monitor the polished-to-rough synergy to identify the inflection point for total market synchronization.