ODC sales drop 60% as diamond downturn deepens
Friday, September 29, 2023 | 1340 Views |
![Steering through the storm: Masire is eyeing a “bottoming out” of the free fall PIC: KENNEDY RAMOKONE](https://cdn4.premiumread.com/?url=https://www.mmegi.bw/mmegi/uploads/images/2023/09/29/88162.jpg&w=800&q=72&f=jpg&t=1)
Steering through the storm: Masire is eyeing a “bottoming out” of the free fall PIC: KENNEDY RAMOKONE
The figures come as India – which cuts and polishes at least 80% of the world’s rough diamonds – announced on Wednesday that it is banning imports of the stones for two months in order to “better manage the balance between supply and demand”.
This week’s revelations add onto an increasingly bleak picture for rough diamonds this year, where sales, prices and revenues are sharply down, in certain cases by double-digit percentages. The crisis has largely been caused by high inventory levels of polished diamonds in the midstream, that section of the diamond pipeline occupied by cutters and polishers, who buy from mines and sell to jewellers.
The BDP as a party known to have ample resources has always held its primaries well in time, but this time around that was not the case. The first leg of the primaries was held last weekend, with the final leg being billed for the coming weekend. This time around, the BDP failed to shine in its primary elections. The elections were chaotic; most if not all polling stations didn't open at the specified time of 6am. Loyal BDP members braved the...