Diamond prices fall along with commodities; Weak China demand is to blame
Market prices for diamonds are in a five-year decline and it makes producers jittery.
The drop was caused by falling demand in China with prices for the precious stones having fallen about 12% over the last five years.
Petra Diamonds logged a 10% sales fall in the first half of the year to $425 million to date, while luxury brand De Beers logged a dramatic 23% fall in profits to $360 million last week.
De Beers, 85% owned by mining company Anglo-American, explained that Chinese retailers hold more inventory than they first estimated.
They were hurt by a slowdown in luxury
spending in Hong Kong and Macau, which happened due to the
Chinese government's corruption crackdown.
All types of precious commodities are being hurt this year due to the stronger U.S. dollar and as China struggles to maintain
its 7% GDP growth target in the wake of the stock market collapse.
Last week gold saw a sharp fall to the levels not seen in five years, while platinum prices have fallen to $1148 from above $1240 at the beginning of 2015.
