As some rough diamond markets see a rise in prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, De Beers, one of the world’s leading diamond retailers, is finding it difficult to plug the supply gap the way it typically used to do in the past.
The price of a small rough diamond has jumped by around 20 percent since the beginning of March according to Bloomberg. The increase in prices followed the war in Ukraine and subsequent sanctions imposed by Washington on Alrosa, a Russian state-controlled entity that accounts for a third of global diamond production.
Around two decades ago, De Beers’ safes in London used to hold stocks of diamonds worth up to $5 billion. But this is not the case now. The company now only holds a working inventory of stock.
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