De Beers Poised to Ease Rough Pricing at July Sight

De Beers will adjust prices at next week’s sight, either by reducing official rates or by expanding its discounted special deals, customers told Rapaport News in the last two days.

The miner’s book prices are consistently higher than prevailing market prices, as the company prefers to withhold rough rather than flood the supply chain with low-cost diamonds when demand is weak.

However, meetings De Beers executives held with sightholders in the past week indicated the company was moving away from this strategy.

Paul Rowley, De Beers’ executive vice president of diamond trading, told clients in Mumbai and Dubai the company would align its prices with the market at the July sight, which begins next Monday in Gaborone, Botswana. Other members of his team were in Antwerp this week with a similar message, the sources said.

De Beers has three options, the insiders said: reduce its book prices to match the market, offer more discounted arrangements on a client-by-client basis, or a mixture of the two. Most believed the first option was the most likely, but De Beers still needs approval from owner Anglo American to implement it, they added.

The miner’s book prices are 20% to 30% above market levels in rough under 1 carat (4-grainers), and around 5% to 15% higher in larger sizes, sightholders estimate.

De Beers declined to comment.

The potential change coincides with the introduction of a new sightholder contract, which goes into effect at this sale. The timing also reflects the fact that the market has picked up since the start of the year, especially in the small sizes that suffered in 2025. De Beers tends to wait until demand improves before reducing prices.

“[The] market [is] much stronger, so it’s an opportunity to align prices without creating weakness,” an executive at a sightholder said Tuesday on condition of anonymity.

The pricing strategy of recent years has also become harder to maintain, because other miners continue to sell – often at discounted prices – even when De Beers holds back supply.

De Beers has experimented with more flexible pricing in the past year and a half. Last year, it offered cut-price bulk deals to select sightholders. In January of this year, it reduced its official prices in some categories. Anglo American’s ongoing process of selling De Beers has added to the complexity, since the parent company needs to make the business as attractive as possible to potential buyers.

Sightholders will find out the new prices on Monday, though they expect the miner to continue giving one-line invoices that do not break down prices by item. The sight runs through next Friday.

Image: Rough diamonds at De Beers’ offices in Calgary, Canada. (Ben Perry/Armoury Films/De Beers)