Cape Town - Anglo American said on Tuesday that the value of rough diamond sales (global sightholder sales and auction sales) in De Beers' 10th sales cycle of 2016, at $418 million, was significantly higher than the $248 million recorded for the equivalent cycle in 2015.
This was, however, down on the $476 million recorded for the ninth sales cycle of 2016.
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De Beers chief executive Bruce Cleaver said: "We continued to see good demand for De Beers rough diamonds in our latest sales cycle.
"While the trade in lower value rough diamonds is experiencing a temporary slowdown as a result of the demonetisation programme in India, demand across the rest of the product mix continued to be healthy and overall sales remained in line with seasonal expectations," he added.