AUDIO: WORLD DIAMOND GLUT
Bloomberg.com reports that, because of the pandemic, there is currently a huge glut of unsold diamonds. De Beers, which mines and auctions most of its gems in the southern African nation of Botswana, has barely sold any rough diamonds since February, and neither have other international diamond sellers. The five biggest producers are probably sitting on excess inventories worth about $3.5 billion. The figure could reach $4.5 billion by the end of the year, or about one-third of annual rough-diamond production. De Beers managed to hold a sale in May but didn’t announce the results. According to people familiar with the situation, the sale yielded about $35 million. Last year that sale was $416 million.
* Hard to work up a lot of sympathy here.
* If only they had put something aside for a rainy day.
* Now the guy who bought that $400,000 diamond ring at Costco last year REALLY feels like an idiot.
* Maybe they can start putting them in cereal boxes and Cracker Jack as prizes.
CLIP: Our classic “Stale’s Diamond” parody spot.
