De Beers

The De Beers Group is a Johannesburg- and London-based diamond mining and trading corporation. It has historically held a near-total monopoly in the diamond trade, although recent Israeli interests have captured 20% of the market. In 1994 De Beers was charged by the United States Justice Department with antitrust violations for conspiring to fix prices for industrial diamonds. On 14 July 2004 De Beers pleaded guilty to the charges and paid a $10 million fine. The plea has enabled De Beers to trade directly in the United States diamond market after years of acting through intermediaries. The US diamond market is the largest in the world, purchasing approximately $500 million in industrial stones and $60 billion in diamond jewelry annually.

Related Topics:
Johannesburg - London - Diamond - Mining - Corporation - Monopoly - Israeli - United States Justice Department - Antitrust - Industrial diamonds - 14 July - 2004

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Using its monopoly, De Beers has created an artificial scarcity of diamonds, thus keeping prices high. The modern tradition of diamonds as a part of engagement in many cultures has been largely created by De Beers through an amazingly effective advertising campaign started in 1939. The "A Diamond is Forever" campaign not only convinced the public that the only suitable gift for engagement is a diamond, but also served to limit the market in used diamonds. http://www.edwardjayepstein.com/diamond.htm

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De Beers distributes diamonds to favored customers (called sightholders) by selecting batches of diamonds themselves and offering them "as is". Following the distressing use of diamond revenues by African revolutionaries engaged in diamond smuggling (conflict diamonds, also known as blood diamonds), De Beers now sells only diamonds mined from their own mines, most of which are in South Africa and Botswana. Currently, De Beers is involved in a joint venture that is developing a diamond prospect in Canada.

Related Topics:
Sightholder - Conflict diamond - South Africa - Botswana - Canada

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