Anglo American announced the value of rough diamond sales for De Beers' first sales cycle of 2018 on Tuesday, amounting to $665m.
The FTSE 100 company said the sales, from global sightholder sales and auction sales, were a significant uptick from the final cycle of 2017 where sales totalled $455m, but they were still lower than the first cycle last year when sales reached $729m.

"Following positive early signs for diamond jewellery sales over the holiday season in the US, the need for the industry to restock led to increasing demand for our rough diamonds in the first sales cycle of 2018," said De Beers CEO Bruce Cleaver.

"This seasonal restocking demand does usually see a larger share of annual purchases being planned into the first sales cycle of the year by our customers, resulting in an encouraging sales performance.

"In the equivalent sales cycle last year, sales levels benefitted from purchases that had been deferred from late in 2016 as a result of the initial impact at that time of India's demonetisation programme."

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