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This hasn’t been true for 20 years. “The DeBeers monopoly” has become the go to argument for Reddit and sadly this far more educated forum. DeBeers isn’t even t
by bluedevil2k 4y ago
This hasn’t been true for 20 years. “The DeBeers monopoly” has become the go to argument for Reddit and sadly this far more educated forum. DeBeers isn’t even the biggest diamond producer any more, Alrosa is (Russian government company). Alrosa and DeBeers together are around 80% of production, so DeBeers no longer has pricing power.
The reason for this - the discovery of diamond mines outside the DeBeers stronghold of Southern Africa - Russia, Canada, Australia.
DeBeers used to sell their diamonds on a take it or leave it style. Cutters could take their sale price or not, but a “no” essentially put yourself out of business.
Now rough diamonds are mostly sold via auctions. There’s about an auction every 1-2 weeks across all the miners, so there’s always an opportunity for cutters to buy supply, and prices are out in the public.
- rocket_surgeron 4y ago"DeBeers controls the diamond market" is a myth that won't die. As an aside, I've noticed that circle of people who love chiming in about diamonds tends to paradoxically overlap with the circle of people who think crypto is awesome despite the "vibe" of the two being extremely similar. I've found it best to just let them rage against their chosen machine.
- Maursault 4y ago> "DeBeers controls the diamond market" is a myth that won't die. DeBeers was a monopoly that wouldn't die for 90 years longer than this upstart myth has existed. Compare to Christmas, come back and comment in 2000 years, and we'll just see if it's really "a myth that won't die." I doubt it'll make it past 2030. You should really be more cautious declaring an eternal myth so prematurely.
- saxonww 4y agoI actually didn't know the current breakdown, which is why I wrote 'did/does'. I believe the rest of my comment is correct.